Somebody Else
by TrickstersImp
Summary: Tori Vega and her group are the only people who matter at HA. There couldn't be other people with their own stories to tell, their own lifes. They couldn't have their own crushes, dreams, problems and drama among the students... no, definitely not.
1. The Big Showcase

**I have closed the OC contest as I decided I didn't need the extra boy. Plus, if I feel the story needs it I may eventually introduce one of the rejected OCs.**

**Thank you for all your OCs and I will introduce them as I go, and as I can't possibly find out every little detail about the OCs from you I might have to take a few liberties. Tell me if there is anything wrong with how I am making your character act or think.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious or any OC apart from Jazz, and the first bit of lyrics for rainy day.**

_**Jazz's POV**_

"_I want to lock you away, for a rainy day._

_I want it to be, just you and me._

_And I want you… to kiss me."_

Ryan sang, doing a perfect diminuendo as she finished the note, and I found myself swaying along to her soprano voice. This was why I was I was so glad I had her as a partner, it sounded so much better when she sang it then when I was recording it, despite the fact that I had written it. Oh, well, it still filled me with joy to see Ryan rocking it.

"How was that?" she asked, "Did I do your song justice?"

"Are you kidding me? You killed it!" I said. It wasn't like her to get nervous.

"Oh My God! Your songs dead!" She said sarcastically, this was more like Ryan. I whacked her with my sheet music and smiled.

"We should probably get out of here. Doesn't somebody else have the black box booked for right after us?" And with that Jade stormed into the room, dragging Jamie behind her.

"Out!" She screamed at me.

"But…" I stammered out, Jade scared me.

"Jade, don't be mean." No doubt that was Beck, Jade's voice of reason, and long-time boyfriend. Although from the way Jade treated him, it was a bit iffy if that would last. But it did look like she really did love him sometimes, even if she didn't always show it. What she did show however, was how over protective she was of him.

"So what, you like her not me then!" She yelled pointing at me and Ryan. I turned to look at Ryan.

"Hey don't look at me." Ryan replied, and I pointed to myself. Jade nodded slowly like I was an idiot.

"Yeah, you! Limey!" _Limey?_

"Another name for British." Ryan whispered in my ear. Okay, Jade obviously had a larger vocabulary than I did. But Jamie started to try and defend me, or so I thought.

"She's not a _complete _slut, you know." _Wow Jamie, big help_. Apparently he was in one of his good days, but didn't feel like spreading the love.

"Well, bye bye." I said, grabbing Ryan and pulling her out the door. Did I just say _bye bye? Wow!_ The moment we were out the door Ryan burst out with laughter.

"Seriously? Bye Bye! Lol." She giggled, if you can use giggled to describe Ryan without sounding totally ridiculous. "How did Jamie end up with Jade anyways?"

"Shapiro's with Cat, Beck's leaving for Canada in the evening, and Andre is stuck with Trina Vega," Both me and Ryan winced, no one deserved to be stuck with Trina Vega in a singing competition, "So she grabbed Jamie, saying, 'You're the last one left in the room with _any _talent.'" Ryan looked at me, curious; there were quite a lot of talented people in our class.

"Only Jamie, Sinjiin, Aphrodite and I were in the room." I explained.

"Stuck in a room with Sinjiin! Ugh..." We both winced again, "Lucky you had me."

I nodded in agreement and said "Yes, and Aprodite got stuck with Sinjiin. Anyway, are you ready for the big showcase tonight. That was our last rehearsal."

"Don't remind me," She groaned, "Anyway, see you there."

"Later" I said as I headed off to my next class, music.

We had rehearsed _rainy day _more times than I could count but still neither of us felt ready. Maybe we never would, even when we were performing it tomorrow.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Aspen's POV<strong>_

I nudged Jamie, who was sitting next to me in the audience for the big showcase, wearing more make-up than I was. He and Jade had had their scream medley earlier this night, which was in sharp contrast to my look at the moment. I had performed with a bit of a mix between ballet and street so I was currently in a leotard and baggy tracksuits.

"Who's up next?" I asked.

"Well, Ryan and Jazz just came off, so it's… Andre and Trina." Oh, this was going to be good. It was a shame I was going to miss it but I promised Jazz I'd meet her after her performance. However as soon as I got anywhere near I could hear cries ringing out.

"Her tongue's engorged!" Well, that's not something you hear every day. But the cries of "TRINA!" explained everything. In that moment I felt sorry for Andre, he had worked really hard on 'Make It Shine' and now Trina was going to completely ruin it. I would volunteer to perform but I don't really sing. Then again Trina _can't_ so it couldn't hurt. I was about to give it a shot, Andre had played the song for me enough. But Andre pulled up a girl's hand and yelled.

"Her sister knows the part!" ignoring her protests that she did not in the slightest. Trina Vega's sister? That was going to be good, but who knows; maybe she did have some talent.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and spun around to see Jazz engulf me in a hug.

"Woah, woah, not a hugger." I said, pulling her off me, only to be engulfed again by Ryan. Who I can only assume nerves had got to as it was so out of character for her. "Okay that's enough. There's enough of Aspen to go round." I said, _slightly _sarcastically. "Come on; let's go see if the other Vega sister shares Trina's… _talent._"

We raced back to our seats as quickly as possible and pushed down the lane, causing quite a lot of disruption. Typically it was only Jazz saying sorry every half a second. Me and Ryan didn't care that much… although, I could have sworn that Ryan blushed as Jamie's hand accidentally brushed past her arm. But I'm not going to try and get inside the inner workings if Ryan's mind. You never know, I might just get stuck down there. Isn't that a terrifying thought?

I looked up as a voice filled the room.

"_Here I am, once again_

_Feeling lost but now and then"_

Wow, this chick could actually sing. That was a shock for Trina's sister. The music sped up and I could almost feel myself humming along.

"_When you figure out how,_

_You're lost in the moment,_

_You dis-a-p-e-a-r."_

AS the song went on, I realised I'd probably rather listen to Jade and Jamie again, or Ryan singing then this girl, _Tori. _She had a good voice but there was nothing really unique about it. I found myself glancing around the stage for someone I recognised.

Connor glanced up from his guitar and winked at me, bringing a smile to my face. But it was short lived as I heard him mess up a chord. Not that anyone noticed off course. My phone letting off a huge beep in middle of the song was harder to cover, though. I glanced down and my phone, setting it on to vibrate, as I probably should have done at the beginning of the showcase. It was Nikki, of course, checking how it was all going. She was already pissed that she had to miss the showcase because Derek's parents wanted to dinner, and tonight was the only night in a fortnight they were free. She would get even crosser if I ignored her. So I texted her back quickly and suddenly there was uproar on stage as a huge crowd of arguing people was unveiled.

"This girl doesn't think she's good enough to go to school here. What do you think?" I gave my friends a look and we all burst out cheering. It the heat of the moment you can't really do anything but cheer. Looks like there was a new student at _Hollywood Arts._


	2. The Girl Covered in Coffee

_**Derek's POV**_

I walked into school an hour late, knowing I really shouldn't have. It wasn't as if I had done it on purpose, there was _traffic. _It didn't help that I had left half an hour late to spite my dad after last night. He had insisted that Nikki and I had dinner with him. Despite the fact that it was the big showcase Nikki had been looking forward to for months. And I had to say, so had I. Sometimes Dad drove me nuts, it would be easier if I had an older brother or sister to share it with. But no… it was just me.

I picked up the pace as I neared Sikowitz's classroom, if I wanted to be a director or an actor, (another thing my dad didn't want me to be) I should probably go to my improv and acting classes. But as I got to the door, a hysterical girl shot out, covered in coffee. I quickly stepped out of her way and entered the room, sliding down between Nikki and Aspen.

"Hey, what's with the new chick?" I asked, I mean, when there's a sobbing girl covered in coffee outside the door, you have to ask.

"Pissed off Jade," that explained that. You really didn't mess with Jade.

"What did she do?"

"Spilled coffee on Beck, and started rubbing his shirt." Well I could understand that, the first Connor showed up and started flirting with Nikki, I swear I wanted to hit him. He didn't know she was taken though, so it was alright. I had sure flirted with Nikki the first time I saw her.

I looked up to see that Sikowitz was still talking about some random acting thing, (that I should really be listening too) and Jade had a really smug look on her face. So there was no doubt about that what Nikki had said was true. Not that I would doubt my girlfriend anyway. I leaned over and kissed her just to remind myself of that. Not that I needed an excuse to kiss my girlfriend.

_**Connor's POV**_

"Connor, Jazz you're up." Sikowitz called, oblivious to what had happened with Jade and… Tori. (That was her name!). To him it was completely normal for the new girl getting coffee dumped on her by a completely crazy chick. And I mean that in the nicest possible way, Jade's my neighbour and she's cool. But she is most definitely _crazy,_ especially when it comes to Beck.

Well, I was up. It had been slightly awkward rehearsing with Jazz all week. Particularly because of the scene that we had been set. Romantic acting wasn't my strength; I wasn't even predominantly an actor, but we all had to take one instrument class, one dance class and one acting class. (Art was optional) Improv was one most people chose as it was well rounded.

"_Connor!" Oops, _that was Jazz. I raced up to the stage as Sikowitz called,

"Action!"

Looking at the audience, Jade and Beck were kissing, and it didn't look like Nikki and Derek were coming up for air anytime soon. Aspen was texting Ryan and Jamie was off in his own little world, so I relaxed knowing no one was really watching.

Jazz turned away from me, or should I say _Daphne _turned away.

"Daphne." I said.

"Daphne! Look at me!" I repeated forcefully, giving Jazz her queue. She spun around.

"Or what! What will you do?" she screamed back at me, tears coming in her eyes, and I had to admit I was caught in the moment. "We're through. Stephen, do you hear me? We are through! I can't. I just can't continue like this. You are possessive, cruel, narcotic, pessimistic and just yesterday you knocked a guy out for talking to me."

"The guy deserved it." I tried to defend myself.

"He was my BROTHER!" she screamed in my face, "We are _over."_

"But…" I stammered, "I love you." I leaned forward to her.

"Well. I. Don't. Love. You." She pushed out; looking like every word killed her.

"Really? Listen to yourself, Daphne. You don't believe what you're saying. So is it such a shock that I don't believe you either?" She turned to leave and I grabbed her wrist, pulling her close to me. I leaned in again, my lips close to hers. And…

She slapped me, hard and ran away as I called after her, "Daphne. Daphne!"

"Please." I murmured, "please…" She stopped dead and turned around. Before walking back over to me.

"Stephen, goodbye." She whispered in my ear. She gave me, (or rather my character) one last kiss on the cheek, and then she was gone. I fell to my knees.

"What have I done?"

"And scene!" Sikowitz called out. "Jasmine you can come back now, wait… actually get me some coconuts from Festus." Jazz poked her head back through the door.

Um… Festus doesn't sell coconuts." She replied.

"Yes he does." And with that Sikowitz was out of the room. Two thirds of the way through the lesson. But it wouldn't be Sikowitz without the psycho.

_**Ryan's POV**_

I chased after Jazz, rounding the corner on the way to our dance lesson. Jazz trying to dance was hilarious; she could play an instrument like there's no tomorrow but when it came to moving her feet, she was just as likely to fall over.

I swung my arm over her shoulder just as Aspen swung hers over mine. If it had been any other lesson than dance we've probably ended up with Nikki on the end as well.

"So how was acting with the gorgeous Cameron" I said joking, but at that moment he walked past and I would have blushed, you know if I was someone like Jazz. But long ago I had taken a page out of Jade's book and decided, blushing made me look bad, so I didn't do it (ignoring last night…). Cameron looked at me and winked. At which point Aspen turned to look at me and said,

"Ryan, do you have something to tell us?" Jazz laughed at this and added,

"No I think you have a thing for… Jamie!"

I grinned and whacked them both on the head. "Shut up, both of you." I told them, trying not to show how on the mark Jazz was.

How was it that I had fallen for the one guy who although single was completely unavailable? It was obvious from the way he looked at Cat. During the whole Jade and Tori fiasco he kept his eyes on the little bi-polar redhead the entire time. I know because my eyes were on him the entire time. But I wasn't the type to fawn over a guy. So I had to move on. Despite the fact that I really didn't want to.

But something Jazz said caught my attention. "You know who is cute, though."

Aspen and I turned to stare at her. Seriously, Jazz didn't do boys. Before she came here been in a single sex school since she was three. I don't know how she could stand it. So the only example she had of boys was her older brother and she fairly obviously wasn't attracted to him. This was the first time we knew of that she had actually liked a guy. So obviously we were eager to know who he was.

"This guy, Ryder in my composition class." Well, Ryder was cute. She obviously had good taste for her first crush. But I wasn't sure she'd do anything about it.

**Well, I hope most caught the, oh so **_**subtle **_**Ryder reference there. Well hope you enjoyed that. **

**P.S. This is registered as Chapter 2, and as most of you have review chapter two, (when it was the list of accepted characters) you may have to go anonymous to review.**

**Tabyylynn: I tried to make Ryan tougher, but I'm not sure I did a very good job. It's just kind of how she comes out.**


	3. Stage Fighting

_**Jamie's POV**_

I headed back into class for the first time this week, narrowly avoiding Trina as she barged down the corridors screaming into her phone, "Ant, Ant! Please, I'm sorry."

I had been visiting my sister all week. She was hit by a car over the summer was in a coma. They thought she might wake up this week, but she didn't. In fact, something went so wrong they thought she might be brain dead. But I don't believe it, I would know somewhere inside if Maddie was gone forever. My little sister was still at home but I needed to carry on. That's want she would want. When she comes back she'll have a life to come back to.

I sat down next to Ryan and asked, "What did I miss?"

She looked at me, slightly surprised. "You mean, in an _entire_ week? Nothing much, just the new girl having to do the bird scene about five different times."

I laughed, "How far did she go?" One of the most interesting things about an actor was how long it took them to do the Bird Scene. I mean it shows a lot about their self-confidence rather than the quality of acting. Jade and Aspen made it on their first try. It took me, Ryan, Andre and Beck two. Jazz and Cat took three, but I don't think we'd ever really got to five before.

"She trained a bird." Wow, I wish I'd been here to see that. "And now we have to do stage fighting with Russ. He's about to announce the partners." With that my eyes began to slide over to Cat, but fate just wasn't that kind.

To my left I heard a sigh and looked up at Ryan in surprise. She was blushing. But then again, Ryan was always blushing. It was what she did.

"Okay so, Jazz and Connor." That would be interesting but they made a good team. "Nikki and Aspen. Ryan and Robbie" Well they were alright, it would probably turn out well. "Jamie and Derek." That was good, Derek was a good actor and it wouldn't be too hard to believe that he'd be able to beat me up.

The teacher continued, "Beck and Cat. Andre and Sam. Jade and Tori. Aphrodite and Sinjiin" That didn't concern me too much. But I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't put with Cat. Oh well, nothing would have come of it anyway. If I even tried to say anything to Cat I would end up a broken hearted fool.

_**Nikki's POV**_

Acting with Aspen would be good. I was completely stuck for an idea though. I leaned over to ask Aspen if she did.

"Aspen…"

"Shut up!" both Ryan and Aspen yelled at me. Or at loud as you can yell in the middle of class.

"Jazz needs to tell us something before we have to go into pair work." Aspen continued.

"Thanks, I feel so loved." I said sarcastically to Aspen. She glared at me. But Jazz spoke up, right then,

"Well you know I have to do this really big project in partners for composition. Well, Ryder asked me to be his." We all looked at her and I let out a tiny screech of excitement but Jazz wasn't done, "And he's coming round tonight."

"Like a date?" Ryan asked and Jazz gave a tiny nod.

This time both me and Ryan let out a huge scream and the whole class turned to face us. I went bright red but Ryan was completely unfazed.

"What are you looking at?" she yelled back.

"Okay…" Russ said, "Into pair work." Ryan and Jazz groaned and headed off to their respective partners and me and Aspen headed over to the corner.

"So, ideas…?" I asked and luckily for me she had one.

"You get home and accuse me of having an affair with your boyfriend." She said. _Wow, I wonder where she got that idea. It's not as if she's friends with Jade, or anything!_

"So full scale cat fight." Aspen nodded and somewhere in the distance you could hear Cat saying,

"I'm in a fight?" I her confused voice.

"So let's start with this." She fake slapped me and going with the flow we started to choreograph our scene yelling out what we were doing so the other could re-act. From the outside of the room it must have sounded very strange as we yelled.

"Punch."

"Kick."

"Knee."

"Nose."

"Slap."

"Slap."

"Hey, no copying!"

This continued for a while. I could even see Robbie filming it to put it on the slap as everybody started watching. As we drew to a close Aspen was (fake) pulling my hair viciously and I (fake) elbowed her in the stomach, knocking her to the ground.

I placed my foot on her stomach and looked at her.

"Stay away from my boyfriend." Around me the cheers were real as I lifted my arms up in celebration. However it was a bit early to be cocky as Aspen bulldozed me to the ground, stood up dusted her hands and walked away, surrounded by laughter.

_**Derek's POV**_

"That's my girlfriend" I whispered to Jamie who I had just finished beating up in a drunken bar fight. (Our scenario)

"Your girlfriends a wimp." He remarked and I turned round to face him, angry, but he had a massive smile on his face so I could tell he was joking.

"She could kick your ass." I retorted.

He shrugged his shoulders, "To be honest, that's not hard."

I laughed in agreement and nodded, "You're not the most masculine guy in the world, are you?"

"No. In fact, most of the girls here could beat me up."

"Right, _besides _Nikki and Aspen, I would hate to see what Jade would do to you." We both winced "I would not like to be Tori, right now." I continued.

"Who?" He asked. Oh, right, Jamie hadn't been here for the last week.

"The new chick that kissed Beck."

"_She what!" _Oops, apparently Ryan hadn't filled him in completely, earlier.

"Ask Ryan." I told him, "Actually that's another girl that could beat you up." Our eyes headed over to Ryan and Robbie rehearsing. She was absolutely killing him.

After a few moments she turned as if she could feel our eyes on the back of her head. And to my utter shock he turned bright red. As we both looked away quickly, I turned to Jamie with pure shock on my face.

"Did you just see that?" I asked open mouthed.

"What?"

"Ryan blushed!" I looked at him in astonishment. "I have never, _ever _seen Ryan blush. It's like Jade sweating, it just doesn't happen"

"She blushes all the time around me." So basically what he was saying is that a _girl_, who never blushes has been blushing like crazy in front of _one guy. Oh my God. _Slowly I began tospell out to Jamie what I had just realised, "You know, Nikki used to blush around me all the time, just before we started dating."

"So…?" He asked, and I gave him a look that pretty much spoke volumes.

And slowly watched comprehension dawn on his face.

**Once again, you may have to go anonymous to review. It should be back to normal next chapter, but still review, it's nice to see what you think! Any ideas on what the other groups should do for their stage fighting, e.g. Jazz and Connor – Ryan and Robbie- and Beck and Cat would be helpful too. Also, although this is the same time line as Victorious it doesn't necessarily mean one chapter per episode. And the main Victorious characters will probably not play a big part in this story.**


	4. Date Night

_**Aspen's POV**_

I walked into the classroom and jumped back.

_Him!_

Seriously, _why, _when my life was going so great at HA did they decide to throw him back into my life. I mean, thank you God, seriously, thanks for screwing up my life again. Really looking out for me there!

I turned to Ryan,

"Wanna skip?" I slurred and she nodded in agreement.

"Definitely, Jamie's been avoiding me ever since Stage Fighting. I'm not sure what Derek said to him. But I'm really worried he knows I like him and just can't bring himself to tell me he doesn't feel the same way." She whispered.

"Did you tell Nikki?"

"Yeah, but only you, Nikki and Jazz know" I gave her a look and she looked at me in disbelief.

"I don't think she would either. But you've got to consider it." I said slowly. I didn't like seeing Ryan with low self-confidence. It just didn't suit her at all.

I still think she should just ask him out and not take no for an answer. I sure wouldn't act the way she'd doing if I were her. But then again, I don't think I've ever been in a situation like hers. Sure, I've liked a guy, and I mean I've _really _liked a guy. But things were very different.

_NO! Don't think about it Aspen!_

Wow. I was talking to myself, really great sign. And as much as not thinking about it was concerned, it was pretty hard for me to do that with _him _staring me in the face! With that in mind, me and Ryan headed back out the door.

"Miss Delecour, please take your seat." The young, handsome, male teacher called after me.

Crap, I forgot he must have known I was in this class. The school would have told him. And 'Miss Delecour', that hurt! I spun around and glared at him.

"Go to hell, Toby." I yelled and stormed out of the classroom dragging Ryan behind me and slamming the door, _loud!_ I turned to find Ryan looking at me curiously.

"Don't ask." I snapped at her and she held up her hands in defeat.

"I didn't," she smirked and we ran out of school, laughing. As the school announcer called us to the principal's office. _Oops, _Nikki and Jazz would be pissed to here we had skipped without them. Or at least, Nikki would, I don't think Jazz has ever missed a day of school in her life.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Jazz's POV<strong>_

Oh My God. 7 o'clock.

"I'm late! I'm late for a very important date."

Nikki, the only one of my friends who had sat through enough of school, (much to her annoyance) to be able to come back home to my place after wards and had offered to give me a life to Ryder's, went "Huh…"

I stared at her. "Alice in Wonderland?"

"Oh yeah, never read it." She replied.

I gaped, astonished, "But how can you have not read Alice in Wonderland. It's a British… … classic."

Nikki raised her eyebrows. "Okay, okay." I admitted. "But how do I look?" She surveyed me up and done taking in my purple dress that was probably shorter than it should have been. (Hey, it's my first date.) The subtle amount of eyeliner and the lipstick that in my opinion pulled it off perfectly. Hopefully Nikki agreed, and she did! She gave me a subtle nod and said,

"Hey, I'll take you to Ryder's now."

All ride long I talked about Ryder-this and Ryder-that so much I think Nikki was happy to be rid of me.

* * *

><p>"<em>It's a musical memory,<em>

_An affectionate melody._

_A reminder of what things could have been,_

_What we could have done,_

_What we could have seen." _We sang slowly drawing to a close for our final lines.

"_I would have made you my queen." _Ryder sang. He had a nice voice. It wasn't Ryan good, but it was nice.

"_But I… didn't want to be." _I sand my part as we went into a duet for the very last words of the song,

"_But we'll still have this music memory." _The song slowly drew to a close and Ryder smiled at me. Placing his arm on my leg. I shivered, but it was a good shivered. I _think. _I really didn't have much experience in that category. Or any experience at all for that matter.

Ryder glanced at me, "Do you want anything to drink?" he asked.

I nodded, "Pepsi," I said. No wait, he would think I didn't care about my appearance or if I got fat. "No, Pepsi Light." No, he'd think I'm superficial, "Actually, just a Pepsi." He smiled at me and headed off to the kitchen. I took this moment to quickly text Nikki again and update the slap.

**Hey, best date off my life. Well, only date off my life. Aaaaahh! Was it like this for you and Derek?**

**Jazz.**

I sent to Nikki. And a notice came up on the screen. _Low battery. _Oh, damn it, that means I had just enough time to wait for Nikki's reply then I'd switch it off. I checked the time, 8.00, Oops, that meant it would be dark outside. While I was at it I decided to txt my parents that I was staying at Nikki's, they didn't have a clue that I was on a date. They would literally explode if I told them. How many sixteen year olds do you know that still don't have their ears pierced. Probably one, me, because my parents still won't let me. Although it is slightly better as I have an older brother who shares the same restrictions, so I can manage but it actually drives me nuts!

I put my phone away as Ryder re-entered the room.

"So you think the song's good." He asked sitting down close to me on the couch and replacing his hand where it was before and handing me my Pepsi.

"Yeah," I nodded at him.

"You know you're a really great singer." I laughed at that and replied,

"No, I'm really not. But you are." I told him, it wasn't strictly true, but wasn't that what you were supposed to do on a date. Flirt.

"You really are, you know." He told me. "You shouldn't doubt yourself." He slid his hand slightly further up my leg. This was starting to get uncomfortable for me. "You look really beautiful tonight, do you know that." That made all my worries disappear and I blushed bright red as he brushed the hair out of my face and leaned in… and I swear it was like in the movies.

He kissed me, and it was my first ever kiss. With the first ever guy I had liked. And nothing could spoil that moment. Or so I thought. This was the best night of my life. Or So I thought, in reality it was one of the worst.

**Okay, I know that was little shorter that other chapters but that's cause I need to have a break to start again for next chapter. Reviewing is back to normal and once again Stage Fighting ideas are useful. BTW I'm really sorry if it gets too Jazz-centric it's just I had one idea which led to another, which led to another, which led to another, etc. But no worried I already have a Ryan/Jamie plotline planed and an Aspen plotline and something involving Connor. I'm working on something for Nikki and Derek as well.**

**REVIEW! Even if your characters not in it. PLEASE!**


	5. Suprise

**This is going to be quite a dark chapter. I didn't really like writing it, but it's necessary for the plotline. This is a very Jazz/Connor centred chapter and I am sorry for that, next chapter it should get better.**

**P.S. BellaRosa17: Looks like you are going to have to wait and find out. Don't worry it shouldn't be too long.**

_**Jazz's POV**_

As me and Ryder kissed for the first time, my phone (very annoyingly) began to beep.

"Sorry." I whispered and looked down at my screen. Surprisingly the words I had just said were mirrored in Nikki's text.

**Oh Jazz, I'm so sorry.**

**N**

It read, but there was a picture underneath. That killed me, it just shot me dead. There was a picture of Aphrodite from one of Derek's classes on it, and she was… she was… kissing the man I had just kissed. It was dated to this morning. I pulled out of Ryder's embrace and stood up sharply. I showed the picture, expecting a reaction. He looked at me, blankly.

"Nothing to say for yourself?" I asked him as I got up and walked straight out of the door.

"Jazz wait!" he called after me. I stopped and turned around triumphantly, but it turns out Ryder was an even bigger ass than I thought. "Will you still perform with me?" I looked at incredulously.

"Go to hell." I screamed at him and ran straight out of the door.

Even his shouts of, "its midnight and you're miles from home" didn't stop me. Or the fact that my sister had set my phone back a couple of hours, to try and stay up when I was babysitting her last night and it was actually, midnight.  
>That didn't stop me at all. What would have stopped me though, if I had known of course, was the fact my phone had just died on me. And I now had no GPS on my blackberry which I was counting on for getting home and no way to text Nikki or Ryan or Aspen to pick me up. And I didn't even have the flashlight in my phone. I was much worse off without my phone than I was with it.<p>

But there was no way on hell I was going back to Ryder. Even if I could find my way back to him. Which by the very small lighting around me and the street names that made no sense, I don't think I could. Lord I was screwed, every step I took, took me further into the kind of bad neighbourhood I would normally avoid at all costs.

As it got darker and darker and the areas got worse I got terrified. I was literally scared out of my mind.  
>Eventually I saw a bus stop. However it was surrounded by the type of guys you would normally cross the road to avoid though. But I mustered up all courage I had left and when for it, it was the only way I was going to get home after all. I walked up to the stop and checked the timetable, leaving all the boys looking at me, smoking their cigarettes and who knows what else. No buses running until 8 o'clock, good, Nov 8th, 1985! Oh God. And I was beginning to get really freaked out about the guys looking at me like... that. Like the way Ryder had been looking at me earlier. Making me wish my dress wasn't quite this short, or rather than I had worn a skirt down to my ankles.<p>

Calm down Jazz, I told myself. Just because they grew up in a bad neighbourhood doesn't mean they're bad. Stop stereotyping. It doesn't matter that they're hanging out at a bus stop where no bus is ever going to arrive at what must be about one o'clock in the morning. Or that I swore I just saw one man take out some weed and another take out a knife. That doesn't mean they're going to hurt me. But that also doesn't mean I'm going to hang around to find out.

I turned to cross the road, but felt a hand grab my arm. The man peered into my face, and I could smell large amount alcohol emanating from him.

"Avoiding us?" He asked, and I swear I almost peed my pants. "Think you're too good for us?" Terrified I shook my head. "Good," he continued, "then we can have some fun." I shook my head again. "No?" He asked. "Then it might not be so fun for you." I shivered and this time it was definitely not a good kind. I tried to pull away, but I couldn't get out of his grip.  
>I let out a scream as loud as I could, but he had his hand over my mouth before I could make enough noise. I elbowed him in the guts and he dropped me on to the ground. I tried to crawl away, but before I could he had hauled me back up to my feet and yelled at me, "You're going to pay for that you little bitch." And he slapped me across the face. Tears began to run down my eyes and I thought I was done for.<p>

But I heard a cry across the road.

"Jazz!"

_**Connor's POV**_

I swear that's… oh, god, what the hell was she doing here. How stupid was she? I was hoping that for the love of good that wasn't Jazz lying on the floor, blood and tears running down.

"Jazz!" I yelled out! And terror struck me to my very core as I heard the reply.

"Connor!" Shit.

What did I have on me? I searched my pockets and everything that I had but I was out of luck. There was no way I could face these guys on my own, but I had to, there was no way I could leave her out there. For one thing Aspen would absolutely murder me. If it wasn't for that I might… no that was a joke. It wasn't funny, but it was supposed to be a joke.

I ran off towards the group of guys surrounding her and something roughly gun-shaped fell out. The toy gun I had got for my little cousin for Christmas. That's it! It wouldn't stand up under close inspection but it would accomplish the task at hand. I picked it up and continued running.

"Get away from her!" I yelled, pointing the toy gun at the men on top of Jazz. Not that they knew it was toy.

He drew his knife to Jazz's throat, and whispered "Make me." I looked at Jazz who mouthed 'please help me' and I felt something harden as if there was actually a weapon in my hand.

"I will shoot you." I threatened and pointed the gun away at his head, praying he wasn't too wasted to listen to reason. He slowly stood up and backed away. The other men were glaring at me as I helped her up to her feet and helped her walk. I moved as quickly as I could down the road, glancing back every couple of seconds to check they weren't following until they were completely out of sight. As we turned the corner I turned back to Jazz, "What the hell are you doing here!" I screamed and instantly regretted it looking at how her face paled, and it was already seriously pale. She fell to her knees tears streaming down her face again.

"Ryder… Aphrodite… kissing… phone… lost." She stuttered and I pulled her up to lean on me again, putting my arm around her.

"Shh, shh." I told her comforting her like I comfort my little sister when she's in a tantrum. "Calm down, I live a couple blocks away, we'll get you home soon. Just keep calm."

"Keep calm and carry on." She muttered and I laughed. Aspen had told me about the massive 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. It was a British morale poster used in World War II and Jazz had told her it was for war… I mean exam time.

"That's the Jazz I know." I said, comforting her.

Jazz got better as we neared my house, well in her attitude she did. But physically she got paler and paler. As we entered the house I was afraid she was going to faint.

"Annabelle! Get the first aid kit!" I yelled the moment we got in the door. I laid her down on the coach, checking for an injury and flooded with relief as I only saw a cut on her shoulders. I know that sounds bad but I thought she might be dying on me. I patched her up quickly.

"Do you want me to take you to the emergency room?" She shook her head quickly. "Okay, then we should at least raise your blood pressure." I grabbed her some coke (coca cola) and a cookie and passed them to her. "So how did you end up here?"

"Well, I left Ryder's house when Nikki sent me a picture of Ryder kissing Aphrodite, you know from Derek's directing class. Right after he kissed me." Suddenly I felt anger boil up inside of me. I'm not sure where I came from; maybe I had just seen this innocent girl taken advantage off one too many times already today and I didn't want to hear about another one.

"I'm going to kill him!" I threatened and inadvertently picked up my gun and I think I scared the crap out of Jazz because she grabbed my arm.

"No, Connor, don't. Just please take to Aspen's I can stay the night there." I looked at her and sighed.

"I can't leave my sister home alone for too long so I can't take you. I'm really sorry, but I take you over next door and Jade can take you home."

"Thanks." She nodded.

I brought her over to Jade's, thinking I should get her back to Aspen's and to bed as quickly as possible and praying that Jade would take her. It's not that Jade doesn't like her; it's just she's not particularly well known for doing nice things for people.

I knocked on the door and Jade answered almost immediately.

"What do you want?" She screamed then calmed down as she saw it was me, "Oh, Connor."

"Can you take Jazz home?" She looked Jazz up and down and I guess took pity on her because she said,

"Okay." And called back inside the house, "Sam, I have to take a friend home. I'll be back in twenty or so minutes." Before reverting back to Jazz, "Come on; let's find you some clean clothes." Wow, Jade was being almost… nice.

She disappeared back into the house and Jazz looked at me.

"Thank you Connor, for everything." And to my utter surprise she leaned in and… kissed me before disappearing into Jade's house.

I walked home, completely shell-shocked.

**Wow, that was long. Don't expect that length every time, (although it would be nice). Oh and BellaRosa17 does that answer your question as far as Connor is concerned. Once again (for the third time) sorry for being so Jazz-centric. The other OCs will get their moments in the spotlight eventually. I promise.**

**Oh and Pinkbull – I mentioned Aphrodite, at least twice! (That's more than previous chapters)**


	6. Solutions

**Okay, this should be a more balanced chapter, and it's finally here Tabylynn!**

**Oh and Cloudy – I was joking… I think. Never mind I'm about four years younger than you so I have plenty of time to improve anyway.**

**_Jamie's POV_**

I held AJ in my arms, trying to prevent her from crying any more. For her it was a nightmare but for me it was reality. How could Dad want to take Maddie of life support, she was his daughter just like she was my sister. He would have enough money to support her if he could hold a job and not come home wasted every morning. I had already lost my mother; I could not lose my sister too. And as much as I tried to hold it back, tears were soon flooding down my face to join my little sisters. The only real family member I have left. I lay her back down into bed and headed back to my room, but just as I did that the doorbell went and fearing what would have happened if my dad had gotten it so I headed to get it straight away.

I open it with a sense of curiosity, what person exactly would be coming at one o'clock in the morning. But I was surprised to see Ryan waiting by the door. She took one look at me and the state I was in and looked slightly taken aback. I stared at her.

"What the hell Ryan?" I asked at her, "Do you know what time it is?"

"Yes, Jamie. But I have something to say." She looked down at herself self-consciously and I noticed what she was wearing. She was dressed as if she was on the most important date of her life. This might be obvious at this point but I was beginning to think what Derek had told me might just be true. Needless to say I was very nervous as this point.

"Ryan…" I said, in the same voice I had just used to calm down AJ. "Now is _not _a good time."

"I don't care. Jamie I have liked you since… to be honest I don't have a clue when. But the only girl you have _ever _looked at is Cat. So I am right him and I'm telling you how I feel in the hope, that when you look inside yourself that you could possibly feel the same way. But if you don't then don't worry." Before I could reply she went straight at me, kissing me, long and hard and leaving me speechless. She turned on her heels and walked away straight after.

Oh God, I had some thinking to do tonight.

I had liked Cat since forever and Ryan was so very, very different from Cat, but was that a bad thing? Ryan and I had been friends for as long as I remembered, and she had never shown any signs of liking me as anything more than a friend before. Maybe it was because I had considered myself unavailable from the moment I met Cat. Ugh… I needed to get some sleep; maybe this would all make sense in the morning.

**_Derek's POV_**

The moment me and Connor entered HA we went straight to Ryder's locker and stood behind him. I tapped his shoulder, and when he turned around, well, Connor punched him in the face. Not badly enough to hurt him, but enough to give him a shock.

"Someone didn't get laid last night." I stared at him incredulously, this guy had some nerve. "I know how that feels." This guy wouldn't shut up "I had this hot chick over and I really thought something was going to happen, but she ran out before I could try anything."

Connor and I basically just full on attacked him then.

"Whoa!" Beck and Andre ran over and pulled us back. "What the hell is going on?" Beck asked.

Connor struggled to pull free of Beck, "We're going to teach this asshole a lesson." They looked confused and I spoke up.

"Last night, Jazz had her first date ever. That's right you bastard, _ever." I spat at Ryder._

"The only problem was he was already seeing someone!" Connor continued and Beck and Andre looked at each other, the determination to hold us back fading.

"Connor found her on Fleet Street at one o'clock in the morning after she had stormed out. He just let her go, knowing she was miles away from home and didn't have any method of getting there." Their faces paled, full of concern for Jazz. As did Ryder's but for a completely different reason. Probably because four pretty big guys were surrounding him and were looking more likely to beat him up every second.

"And if I hadn't found her, being mugged would be the least of her problems. If I hadn't been there she would have been… she would have been… " As hard as Connor tried he couldn't finish that question. Beck and Andre understandably had completely let go of us and looked ready to join the fight. Andre even pointed to Connor.

"Well then, carry on." Connor lifted Ryder up by his shirt and prepared to hit him again.

But a voice called out, "Stop!" Jazz walked into the room. But it wasn't quite Jazz. Her hair had bright neon streaks in it and was quite a bit shorter than it had been yesterday. She also had a small tattoo up her left arm of a flower. I think it was a jasmine flower. Would make sense.

Although she looked tougher now, she still retained the innocence that made her Jazz compared to Nikki, Aspen and Ryan.

"Don't hit him Connor." She called out as she walked right up to Ryder pushed Connor away. And as Ryder sighed with relief punched him right in the face, hitting his head against the locker and knocking him flat out.

"Whoa." All four of us guys echoed. But I whispered to Connor,

"Well, look at her girlfriends. It got to have rubbed off on her slightly." He nodded in agreement and at that moment Jamie ran in.

"Oh my God!" He called as he hopped over Ryder's body giving it a glance and asking, "Jazz?" We both nodded "Ryan came over and… kissed me." Wow, de ja vu. I swear I had the exact same conversation with Connor last night. Ryan wasn't quite finished, "She gave me an ultimatum. Her or Cat."

"What do you think?" Connor asked.

"No, what do you want?" I corrected.

"I don't have a clue." Jamie replied. Wow, I was really glad I didn't have girl troubles. It was nice to have a long-term girlfriend.

"Look you've been crushing on Cat for ages, but maybe it's time to move on." I told him and about as ironically as it gets Cat and Ryan both walked into the room at the exact same time, side by side, highlighting their differences. Jazz was in pick, matching with her red hair and Ryan was in black, Jade-type clothes. Personally I know who I would pick in an instant but then again I had fallen in love with Nikki so you can see what my type is.

"Look, just suck it up, go over and kiss one of them. Let your sub-conscious do the work." I told him and he walked over to the girls and hesitated. But he got his confidence and placed a kiss right on Ryan lips.

Connor looked at me and sighed, "Now that's what's I need to do." He said and ran over to Jazz, giving her her first proper kiss. (You can't really count Ryder's). And by the looks of both couples they were all enjoying themselves.

At which point _my _girlfriend entered the picture. She turned shocked from Ryan and Jamie to Connor and Jazz and yelled at me, her mouth open (if that's even possible) "What the hell is going on! And why did no one tell me!" This time she was staring directly at me. _Oops._


	7. The Only One Left

**I told you each character would get their moment in the spotlight and this is Aspen's. Enjoy!**

_**Aspen's POV**_

"Why did nobody tell me?" Nikki yelled and Derek ran over. I was still just shell-shocked that four friends who were all single last night were making out. I felt good for Ryan, but Jazz and Connor was a complete shock. And looking at Jazz, she had a tattoo! And streaks! And her outfit! She looked like she had borrowed it from… Jade! Her parents were going to kill her. Suddenly a thought hit me. I was the last one left single.

Derek swooped in and kissed Nikki, shutting her up. Not that she was annoying me… but the mood of having no single friends left had made it so everything was annoying me.

I ran over to Jazz frankly quite concerned about her. Nikki wasn't any of my concern, she had given up her two seconds of being mad at her boyfriend, and she couldn't last any longer than that and was fully kissing him back.

"Jazz" I yelled at her causing her to pull herself off Connor reluctantly and turned to face me. Her hands were on her hips.

"What!" she yelled back and I was taken aback.

"What the hell happened last night? You and Connor? The highlights? The tattoos? The clothing?" She looked at me and I could see her determination fade slightly.

"Well, Ryder and I were on our date." She stopped suddenly.

"And…" I prompted.

"He's a cheating jackass."

My mouth dropped open and my eyes searched for Ryder. I noticed him slumped against the locker. I figured that Ryan, Nikki, Connor or Derek had gotten to him first.

"So what happened about Connor and what's with the new look?" I asked her.

"My phone died and I couldn't get home. He found me on my own in the middle of nowhere. If he hadn't found me I wouldn't be here right now. He saved me Aspen. He couldn't take me home so he took me to Jade's and I decided that I was fed up of being walked all over. I needed a new look. So I got one and Jade helped me."

"Okay…" I said trying to process everything she was telling me.

"Will you do me a favour?" She asked.

"Sure…" I was still a little bit confused.

"Help me tell my parents, please…" Oh what had I got myself into? But she was one of my best friends. I couldn't let her down. Speaking of that…

"Sure." I told her and then called out, "Connor!"

He turned towards me and I pulled him into the Janitor's closet. You know, Jade's signature closet.

"Okay, here's how this goes." Connor looked confused. "You are Jazz's first ever boyfriend. You do plan on being her boyfriend, don't you?" He nodded sharply.

"She's only going to be your second so I'll go easy on you. And you're one of my best-friends. But so is she, and right know she is completely innocent… so if you hurt her, you are dead. You saw happened to Ryder and that's before I got to him. Get it."

Connor nodded again, "Trust me, I don't plan on hurting her." I smiled.

"Okay then, glad we had this talk." I told him and walked out. That was that taken care of, if he broke her heart now I would kick his butt. It didn't matter if he was one of my best friends. Especially now I had given him that talk, regardless of the fact it only took two minutes.

"_Would Aspen Delecour please report to the guidance counsellor's office?" _The loudspeaker announced as I came out of my penultimate period.

Slowly and reluctantly I made my way to Lane's office, in fact I was probably lucky I had got away with skipping History until this late in the school day.

"Lane…" I knocked on his door.

"Come in." He called and I entered the room but the moment I saw Toby in the room I tried to backtrack back outside but Lane calmly spoke, "Aspen, I know you don't want to do this, but we have to."

I slowly sat down on the coach.

"You and Mr Livingston both swore that the rumours were not true. Do either of you have something to tell me?" My eyes drifted up to Toby's and darted away again. The rumours that had caused me to be expelled weren't true. At least, not completely true, we had got caught in the moment when he was helping me after school, but we had never slept together. Hey, don't look at me like that! He's 22 not 50!

"No." I answered Lane and Toby agreed.

"Then it's not okay for you to skip history classes. You choose, either admit you have a problem and report to be Friday break for the rest of the semester or take detention after school Monday for the semester as punishment for rudeness to Mr Livingston and skipping class.

"Detention" I said in a heartbeat. Lane droned on for about ten minutes on this and the consequences before finishing.

"Oh and an apology to Mr Livingston please" Lane got up and left the room.

I cursed underneath my breath.

"Toby…" I started and then corrected myself, "Mr Livingston, I apologise for telling you to go to hell." He looked at me and memories came back that I immediately blocked out of my mind.

"That's alright Miss Delecour." It hurt every time he called me that. "Do you want to talk about anything that happened last year? This is our chance to finish unresolved issues."

"What are you talking about? Nothing happened, except I got expelled for your mistakes." He looked at me sadly.

"I lost my job and it took me a whole year to find a new one. I have suffered too."

This was more than I could take. I got up and ran out of the room calling behind me, "See you in history Tob… Mr Livingston."

I got out into the hall and texted Jazz who surprisingly actually arrived within ten minutes. I wasn't sure if I liked this new her or not.

But it did mean we managed to get home a lot faster.

Jazz was nervously hovering outside the door of her house. I gave her a nudged and hesitantly she opened it. She sighed in relief as only her brother was in the room.

"Why are people putting up Father Christmas's now? It's only November." He said his back still facing towards the door.

"Nick, why is it the first thing you do when you get home is to complain?" Nick went to one of those posh schools; you know the expensive private ones that are all about 'academic excellent'. He normally let out late but today he had a free period last thing. It really annoyed Jazz because he would get home and knick all the food she wanted to eat for dinner.

Wow it was amazing how much I knew about Jazz's family. I knew her little sister Lottie was in the HA middle school and was practicing her dancing to make it into the senior school as well as the details about Nick.

"Why shouldn't they put up Santas?" I asked

"Umm… Technically…" He began to correct me.

Jazz looked at him, almost getting cross. "Don't you dare correct her on her grammar and the fact that Santa Claus is American. We are _in America, _she is _American. _And most of all Santa Claus is English as well. Even you don't exclusively say Father Christmas all the time." Nick was an English major and had a bit of a thing about the whole world going American.

He turned, a sheepish look on his face, "Sorry! Forcive habit…" At that point Nick's mouth dropped open as he caught sight of Jazz. And mine did too, how did I not notice the cute, funny, _British, _guy in front of me? It was very probably just the fact that I was the last one left single in the group but I subtlety changed my pose to begin to flirt. It wasn't a lot, and only my best friends could detect it. However Jazz was one of my best friends. She looked at me in shock.

"Mum and Dad are going to murder you." Nick said, his eyes fixed on Jazz and her new look. "Well…" He continued trying to think of something good out it. Not that she didn't look nice but he did have a point about how her mum and dad, I mean _mom. Wow. I had been spending far too much time with Jazz. _"At least you didn't get your ears pierced." He finished. That was true; Jazz wouldn't go as far as to disobey a direct order from her parents. Especially her dad, he could be scary at some times.

Jazz brought me back to the real world pulling me into her room, waving goodbye to her brother.

She stared at me, the complete shock evident of her face.

"What the hell are you thinking!"

**Okay, then that's Aspen's chapter and I only just began to slightly cover the plotline I have planned for her. Good news, more in store.**

**Oh and last call for stage fighting ideas. Plus I have about 10 alerts, but I get five reviews a chapter so these other people, are you actually reading or can you not be bothered. I'm fine either way, but please review if you are actually reading.**

**Oh and thanks to Bella Rose, Tabyylynn, Pinkbull, CloudyTheChao (got to love the name, very cute) and LivvyLovesYou for always reviewing.**


	8. Happy Dancing

_**Ryan's POV**_

"Where's my homework, nerd." I snarled at Robbie and laughed under my breath as I saw the look of distress on Cat's face. You know, I liked her a lot more now that Jamie and I were dating and I knew that he liked me. She wasn't as annoying somehow and her crush on Robbie was now cute, instead of me being pissed about how she was leading Jamie on. But Cat didn't quite get the concept of stage fighting. The moment Beck had swung a punch of her, (a stage punch, of course) she had run from the stage screaming her head off. Jamie hadn't even given her a glance, which I was very proud of.

"It's not your homework, its mine." Robbie stammered. I threw my head back and laughed, proceeding to pick him up by his shirt sliding him right up the walls. Thank you Sinjiin's harness.

"That's what you think."

"I'm serious Rebecca, this time I'm n… not backing down." He got out. I punched him right in the face and he gave a cry of pain, breaking the blood pack concealed next to his nose and spurting out blood.

"Seriously, do you actually think that our little arrangement is going to end any time soon?"

"What arrangement?" He squealed

"You do my homework, I don't beat you up." I told him menacingly and kicked him in his crotch. He screamed in pain. "You've broken our deal, so I think I'll break it too." I stuck to my word and began to thoroughly beat him up, something that would be sure to hurt in the morning. You know if it was actually real and all that.

I went for his nose, his lip, his chest, anywhere that would lead to lasting damage. Then I dropped him on the floor, laughing.

"How about that homework then?" He nodded at me painfully and I smiled again, causing him to grimace. He searched in his backpack, which Rex and I had specifically picked from his _collection _to be the very nerdiest one we could find. I was worried that I was going to have to buy one specially, and then I remembered that my partner was Robbie.

He handed me a sheet, it was actually a back-up script, just in case one of us forgot our words but it served well as a fake piece of homework. "What's this, only three pages!" I yelled at him. "This won't get me an A!" I screamed at him and stepped on his nose, which produced a crack showing that I had broken his nose. "I need five pages for tomorrow." I leaned down close to him and stage whispered in his ear, "Cheer up, it's not as if you just got beaten up by a girl or anything?" I laughed again, "Oh wait, you just did."

I laughed and Sikowitz announced, "And end scene!" Robbie and I hurried of the stage, and he rinsed the blood of his face, while I did the same to my nails, if you didn't get it out quickly fake blood was a real killer. At least, I think it was fake blood, Cat got it for me and when I tried to confirm it was fake she skipped down the corridor away from me.

I slipped down next to Jamie when I was done.

"Great scene" He told me, smiling and I kissed him, just because I could. It felt wonderful to be able to kiss the guy I had liked forever whenever I wanted to. I didn't pull away until I heard Jazz run into the room. She had left after her performance with Connor to meet with the principal. So we were all concerned that Jazz who had never done anything wrong in her life, at least before last week, could possibly been in trouble.

_**Nikki's POV**_

"They chose my play!" Jazz yelled as she ran into the room. Every semester the school picked three plays that they would do big performances in the black box. It was a big school thing and students got let out of school to see them and the shows also got a Saturday and Sunday performance. It was a really exclusive thing and it was great that Jazz's play had made it in as there were agents and producers in the crowd. It had been pretty much been her play against Andre's and from the look on Jazz's face you could tell she had never expected it to be her. They had given in the scripts and the teachers had chosen on that so no one had ever seen a live performance.

The people involved at the play took one look at Jazz and then back to Sikowitz, we all got up and walked out of the room as Ryan called, "Bye Sikowitz!" Jade was about to go on, but to be honest, she really didn't look that bothered out us all walking. Neither did Sikowitz for that matter either.

Once we were out the door Jazz started to do a full on happy dance. Aspen, Ryan and I exchanged glances. "Okay, somebody do the happy dance with her before she makes an even bigger fool of herself." Our eyes all slid to Connor.

"Boyfriend!" Ryan said, pointing to Connor.

He looked at us, "No," He began to point at me, "Best friend, lead in play and most importantly, _girl!" _I groaned and began to do the happy dance with Jazz.

After about a minute of this, I was getting really sick of this and Aspen had just got out her camera phone. "Stop" I told Jazz.

She resumed calm as Aspen disappointedly put away her pearphone.

"So for leads it's you," she said pointing to me, "and Connor, right?" She said for confirmation. We both nodded. "I just need to you to run through a couple of songs and then it's all set." We nodded again. "And we'll do a couple scenes so if the rest of you could come that would be great."

"Where are we rehearsing?" Jamie asked.

"My house" Jazz replied

"Wait, Nick's home." We all turned to look at Connor again.

"What?" He asked

"Um… have you met Nick?" That was Aspen

"No…"

"Well, Jazz's parents aren't the only people that are over-protective of her." I chipped in

"If you come over Nick will do the… _bigger brother speech," _all the boys winced, "and he'll keep interrupting us so we'll never get any work done." Jazz finished.

"Mine?" Connor asked.

"I'd rather not. I kind of have bad memories of that place and its surroundings." Jazz said quietly.

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea." Derek said.

I made some mental calculations to double check mom wasn't home and then volunteered, "My house's free." We all nodded almost simultaneously; it was scary how well we knew each other and head back to my place.

"We only have math anyway," Derek said as we walked out the door.

"Math_s…" _Jazz corrected and I gave her a glare.

"Sorry."

After several shift arounds of who was taking whose car were at my house

"_**What would you do if the sun turned blue?**_

_**And the stars were all covered in dew,**_

_**And the moon began to flare,**_

_**Would you still be here?**_

I began the next verse.

_**How about if the sky turned red,**_

_**And the fire began to burn all the dead,**_

_**Before they'd even died,**_

_**Would you and I still be alive**__?" _

I sung at Connor before continuing as Jazz read through her notes about the play from the teachers.

"_**Or would you be running, running… away from the terror?"**_

"_**Or fighting, fighting… with your horrors"**_

"_**I'd be laughing, laughing… these people were never alive, so how can they die?**_

I began to slowly crescendo to the bridge.

"_**The dead walk among us every day**_

_**I have to wonder, do they even know what they're saying.**_

_**Know what they're doing,**_

_**Knowing what they're seeing**_

_**Or what they believe in?**_

_**And do they care about all this shit that they're hearing,**_

_**Understand what they're seeing,**_

_**Know where they're going**_

_**Or is it just wishful thinking?"**_

I did the chorus one more time to get to the last verse.

"_**Or would you be crying, crying… about your surroundings,**_

_**Or praying, praying… for God to help us?**_

_**I'd be saying, saying…"**_One last diminuendo, "_**You better not be frozen in fear, when danger is near." **_

I finished the song as Jazz looked up and said, "And then Connor, I want you to kiss her."

"What!" Derek yelled, and I jumped up. Just then my problems got worse.

"Nikki! I'm home!" My mom yelled as she came through the door.

_Shit!_

**Okay, I'm sorry for taking up so much space with that song, but it is original (I wrote it) so I guess that counts as writing.**

**Anyway AwkwardAusTurtle you don't need to review every chapter but just review every once in a while, just to let me know you're still here. That goes for anyone else reading as well.**

**Oh and if you like Bade check out my other story, What's in a name. The reason I'm advertising it so blatantly is that I JUST FINISHED MY FIRST MULTI-CHAPTER FIC. Yeah, it's incredibly short, only 8,000 and something words but still, WOO!**

**Okay, hyper fit over. Review.**


	9. Introducing

**Ladies and gentlemen may I introduce to you Aphrodite Athena DeVici!**

_**Derek's POV**_

"What!" I yelled, seriously what the hell. There was no way I was going to let Connor kiss my girlfriend. I don't care whether it's a stage kiss or a full make out session. It's not happening. It doesn't matter that I'm being Jade-level jealous right now. Or probably even higher then Jade level jealous because she doesn't mind acting, or the fact that this is really important for Nikki's future…

Okay maybe I'm being slightly selfish.

"Nikki! I'm home" Her mom yelled as she came through the door. Now there were bigger things to worry about, I caught Nikki's eye and we both ran to the kitchen where Lilian Webbs was standing in the doorway. It had been a bit of a shock to find out whom Nikki's mother was, but I was over it now. So what my girlfriend was the daughter of a super famous actress? They were nothing alike anyways, Nikki's mom had originally had the dark hair that I loved in Nikki, but it had been drowned out by the brunette hair dye and the light brown highlights that had once been natural, that had made her so famous, and Nikki wanted to make her own impression and not ride on the back of Lilian's success, which explains her reaction to her arrival.

"Mom, leave!" She yelled.

Lilian looked confused for a moment, "Why?" Nikki had never explained to her mom properly why she had never let anybody at all apart from me meet her mom. I wasn't sure she really wanted to any time soon. She looked at me pleadingly and I headed to the others.

"Guys you need to go." They looked at me questioningly. "Don't ask." I told them and groaning they got up and headed to the door.

"Let's call it a day." Jazz said as she headed out the door. I breathed a sigh of relief as they didn't actually ask. I thought that was going to be a lot harder than it actually was. They walked out the door Connor faked a yawn and slung his arm over Jazz's shoulder. Aw… they were still at that stage, cute.

I turned back around and headed to the kitchen again, as soon as I got anywhere near I could hear Nicki screaming.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Had my girlfriend transformed into Cat?

"Nikki, calm down." Lilian told her

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down! How could you just make that decision without me? It's my choice where I live as well. And I choose to stay here!"

"Nicole, don't you speak to me to me in that tone of voice." Nikki looked like she was going to burst with fury and turned to me, her eyes pleading.

"Nikki, let's go." I gestured to her, knowing that although I was quickly losing brownie points with her mom, Nikki needed to get out of here before she exploded.

"Nicole don't you dare walk out that door."

"Excuse me, but your daughter tries so hard to make sure that she gets to create a name for herself instead of borrowing yours, and I specifically know she called you to double check you weren't coming home. _AND _when you did come home earlier than you said you would, knowing how important it was to her, you drop the bomb on her that you're moving without actually asking her. If she wants to leave, you should probably let her." Oops I probably shouldn't have blown up like that, but I knew Nikki would thank me later.

We walked out the door and slipped into my car. I looked at her as she rested her head against my shoulder. "Don't worry. You can stay the night at mine." I told her.

She smiled at me, "It's only two-thirty".

"Then you can stay the afternoon as well." And then I leant down to kiss her, all my jealous worries having faded away.

_**Connor's POV**_

I faked a yawn and slipped my arm over her shoulder, causing her to look up at me happily. "You don't mind me kissing Nikki, do you?" I asked her.

"Are you kidding, I wrote the play." Wow, it was nice to have a cool girlfriend. My last, and well only girlfriend, had been roughly Jade level jealous, which let me tell you really wasn't fun. But me being with Jazz felt natural, although I had never thought about her like that until about a week ago. We slipped into my car and she looked up at me.

"Where are we going?" I smiled.

"It's a surprise." I had reserved a place at a special restaurant. The look on her face as we entered and I asked for my reserved table was priceless. Everything was going so well when I heard a massive uproar outside.

"Ryder! What is wrong with you!" We heard a girl scream, and I slid my arms around Jazz protectively but she shrugged it off and got up.

"Ryder." She called as she walked out of the restaurant. I slipped the money for the bill down and followed her; it was good to see her come out of her shell and to stand up for herself.

Ryder looked round and snarled at Jazz, I slipped my arm back round her. A girl with long curly brown hair looked at Jazz curiously, her anger entirely focused on Ryder.

"You" he snarled "three different girls broke up with me because of your little performance in front of everybody. I got three different 'F's!" I recognised the girl suddenly, Aphrodite Athena DeVici. Her dad owned pear or something.

Jazz looked at Aphrodite, "You know he is only dating you for help with work, because he doesn't have enough talent to get the grades himself."

Ryder looked between the two, "That's not true…" he began, but Jazz cut him off.

"With the amount of girls you date you must go through break ups like this every day. Don't you ever get bored?" She asked.

"You know, he's not actually dating you for your grades." I spoke up and told her. "He's dating you for your money."

At that point Aphrodite walked up and slapped Ryder in the face.


	10. Awake

_**Jamie's POV**_

I stared at the empty bed in front of me, what had he done? Had he killed her, sentenced her to death, for money? Did that make my father a murderer? Did that make me a murderer for not stopping him; did that mean I had killed my sister? Had I sentenced her to death? It hurt me to think that my twin may be gone, that she might have completely left my life forever. I wondered if Dad had told AJ yet, if he would actually deal with it properly or if he would leave me to mop up her tears like always.

I guess he had considered my older sister dead the moment that car hit her. He was only holding on to her for my sake. Maybe if I'd known, if I begged he would have kept holding on to her for my sake…

I collapsed down in tears. Five minutes ago, everything had been going so well, Jazz's play had got chosen, so we were all really excited about that, there was Ryan and I and Maddie _had _been looking up before this moment. But I got here to visit her and there was no one here, just an empty bed. Dad and I had had a massive argument yesterday about keeping her on life support, so it didn't take a genius to guess what had happened. At that moment AJ burst into the room, and looking full of joy with happiness that I envied so much. She ran up to me and jumped up to hug me, with a childish innocence.

"AJ… I have something to tell you." I slowly said, it was obvious my dad hadn't told her get. That figured, my Dad never did anything that was important. He would have had money to keep Maddie alive if he didn't spend it all on beer.

"Is it about Maddie…? I already know!" I looked at her in shock, she knew Maddie was dead and she was still happy like this?

"You know Maddie's dead?" I asked her and she shook her head.

"Maddie's not dead." She stated and rage boiled up inside of me, how could she say Maddie wasn't dead? What had dad told her, that Maddie had gone to live on a farm or something? Like she was a dog we'd had to put down.

"Sweetie, y…yes she is." I stammered.

"No." She shook her head again.

The rage inside of me exploded. "Of course she is! Because our Dad's a drunkard who wastes away his life on beer and alcohol, and you need to get it through your thick head that our sister is gone and she's not coming back! Maddie is dead. That is the truth! Our father killed our sister; it's one of the sad truths of life! Just face it, and grow up!" AJ looked at me trembling and shock her head again, a tear starting to fall down her cheek. And it hit me how I had just made my ten year old sister cry.

She ran out of the room in fits of tears and I heard a voice behind me. A voice that I thought I would never hear again.

"Jamie…" It called. And I was filled with joy.

_**Ryan's POV**_

Jamie was visiting his sister today so I went over to Aspen's. We all had rehearsal at Jazz's at one, so we got to skip school, as this was technically schoolwork. We'd have probably skipped anyway but this meant we didn't get in trouble at all.

Go Jazz! And this was a massive opportunity for all of us as well, especially Jazz, Nikki and Connor. I slipped my hand under the matt where Aspen kept her key, (she should really move that) and unlocked the door, letting myself in. I waved to Jade and Sam (Aspen's two cousins) as I walked past. The cousins were always hanging out somewhere afterschool, even if they didn't talk much in school. I headed to Aspen's room and did a double take when I saw her. She was all dressed up and to be honest she looked stunning, she had the perfect amount of make-up on, not too much, her hair was done up just right. She was wearing her denim jacket that she almost never wore because she was afraid of ruining it and the cutest little owl necklace ever.

"Where are you going?" I asked her, was she ditching Jazz for some random guy she hadn't told us about.

"Jazz's" She said confused "Isn't that where you're going?" She asked me. It looked like Aspen was dressed up for a date, and with a boy she really liked as well, not to rehearse a play.

"So why are you dressed like that…?"

"I feel like it!" Aspen suddenly got defensive.

I held up my hands and took a step back. "Woah! Where did that come from?" I asked/

"Nowhere, let's go." She told me quickly and headed towards the door.

"So Jazz got Nick to promise to leave us alone for the rehearsal." I told her and was surprised to see her face fall. A little evil smile formed on my face as I continued, "Oh, wait, Nick's not going to be home today." This time Aspen visibly slumped and she looked very disappointed. She also began to take of her denim jacket, but I stopped her, leading her outside.

"Bye!" I yelled to Jade and Sam on the way back out and they nodded, too engrossed in their movie to react to anything. That reminded me, they didn't have the day off… I guess they just decided to skip. Well, it wasn't as if they hadn't done it before.

Anyway, back to Aspen… I looked at her closely.

"You like Jazz's brother." I told her and she took a step back, showing shock for a split second then quickly masking it. She shook her head.

"Oh, yes you do…" I continued "Because I lied, Nick is going to be there." I told her and even she couldn't hide the massive smile that formed on her face. "Told you so." I said.

"Okay… okay I like Nick." She admitted and a huge smile grew on my face to match the one on hers.

"Oh My God!" I screamed and all the passers-by turned to look at me. I gave them a look which basically said. _Don't you have anything better to do?_ And I turned my attention back to Aspen.

"Does Jazz know?" I asked her and she nodded.

"Unfortunately…" She said.

"And…"

"She said that she didn't care, as long as I left her out of it." I laughed

"Sounds like Jazz." I told her and then smiled, "Then let's go get you a boyfriend"

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I hope that was alright and that Ryan wasn't too OOC, but I think Jamie was fine… I had to give them both this chapter because I hadn't given them one in ages… I'm sorry there wasn't any JamieRyan romance in it though. (Someone come up with a cool acronym for it! I can't think of one) And about the extra boy, I've realised that its not really neccessary, so sorry Wyatt, but I think it's fine. I'll keep him as a reserve though and I know the story keeps jumping around and right now I'm dealing with... Aphrodite, which I cut away from the middle of and skipped a day, Aspen/Nick and Nikki possibly moving so if one doesn't appear for a chapter or two is because I'm still dealing with the others.**

**Oh and Tabylynn/BellaRosa17 - you have to go annon. Sorry...**


	11. Rehearsal

_**Nikki's POV**_

I looked in the mirror, smiling slightly at my reflection. I wasn't smiling at myself; no I'm not that self-centred. I was smiling at my boyfriend slowly trying sneak up behind me. Forgetting I was looking in the mirror so I could see behind me perfectly well, oh boys are such idiots. I've been thinking that since I was about twelve you know… doesn't really seem to change. There are just other redeeming qualities now… like what I was going to do, just before Derek was about to swoop in and say "Boo." And trust me he was… I know my boyfriend.

I spun around and kissed him, smiling very wide.

"How did you know?" He pouted.

"I'm in front of a mirror, doofus."

"Looked like my plan worked perfectly then." Um… not sure that made sense, but I guess I'll humour him.

"Sure…"

"Let me think about it, what would I rather have a little shock from my girlfriend, or a kiss from the girl who now thinks I'm adorable?" Damn it, maybe he was smarter than I gave him credit for. Oh wait, he was an actor, scratch that. It's not that I have anything against actors, I'm one myself. But you just can't trust a word that comes out of their mouths. Does that mean you can't trust what I just said? Which would mean you can trust actors... which would mean you can't... okay, I'm going round in a circle. Moving on.

"A little shock…" I laughed and he smiled wide.

"You know, sometimes I hate how well you know me."

"No you don't…" I laughed.

"You see, that's how well you know me." Okay, so he might be an idiot but he's my idiot. You know, I think he may only be an idiot around me. Aww… how sweet is that? I fell back into his arms smiling my face off. But he checked his watch and I groaned.

"No…" It couldn't be time to go to Jazz's already.

"It's time to go to Jazz's… and then..." I knew what the next phrase was. And then you have to go home. Derek's parents weren't going to let me stay another night. I mean I knew I had to go home and deal with it eventually but was it such a crime to want to put it off for a bit. My mom had just gone and announced we were moving to… drumroll, (I know it's not a good thing, I just like being dramatic)… Alaska. She's shooting a new movie which she will star in and she even offered me a pity part. But I turned it down, there is no way I'm moving, she's begun to accomplish her dreams why can't she leave me to accomplish mine. I'm finally settled in at HA. I have friends, a loving boyfriend. I AM NOT MOVING TO ALASKA! I actually do not care what my mom says.

The car ride was silent and awkward. This was something Derek and I normally were definitely not normally. I knew he had no choice that his parents were kicking me out, they said it's what they would want Derek to do if he was in my position. Not that Derek would ever be in my position; he didn't have a famous actress for a parent who didn't care about anybody else's feelings but hers. And how I envied Derek for that, the fact that his parents were actually normal.

We arrived at Jazz's and I sighed at Derek again.

"Look, I know you can't help it that I can't stay anymore." I told him.

He sighed at looked at me, "You are not moving… I don't care what my parents say. If I have to I will do what they do in all those cheesy Disney Channel shows and have my best-friend move in with them and my family. Because you may be my girl-friend, but you're also my best-friend and I can't lose you." Wow… that was a corny speech, but I guess I appreciated it. I wasn't sure if my mom would leave without me; because I am not coming with her… but it was nice to do I wouldn't be stranded if she did. Wait, can you leave home at 16…? I think you can.

Anyway, back to the story… but hang on, it was interesting to see that my boy-friend still watches Disney Channel at 16… hmm…

…

…

Wait I was telling the story wasn't I. Actually I don't think I can be bothered anymore.

_**Jazz's POV**_

Nikki and Derek came through the door looking kind of stressed. Back that was fine… there had obviously been something bothering her earlier when Derek basically kicked us all out of her house. But it was fine… if, Nikki wanted to tell me, she'd tell me.

Right now, I had to focus on the play. Maybe it would make my career, maybe it would make Nikki's or Connor's or the career of anyone else. Maybe I was just being stupid though, getting my hopes up for nothing. To take my mind off the nerves building in my stomach I focused my eyes back on the girl in front of me. I mean, I was the director, if I wasn't going to be calm who would be?

"I can't believe him!" She yelled. It felt really weird talking to Aphrodite about Ryder... but I guess she was is a worse situation than I was. Her and Ryder had dated for months, I had had only one date with him.

"You know, I guess I always kind of knew. Trina warned me, Ant warned me... I just didn't listen."

Somehow Nikki managed to only pick up one world in that sentence... 'Trina'

"Wait, you're friends with Trina?" She said breaking up her daily session of PDA with Derek and coming over. Ryan broke away from diccussing something or other as welland joined in.

"Kick her out." She said just about as rudely as she possibly could manage. Aprodite looked around her and gave a glare to my friends. Well I guess, they _were _insulting her friend.

"May I continue?" She asked, at least _she_ was polite... I nodded, smiling at her in an attempt to re-assure her.

"I guess I really dated him to help me get over..." She broke into a whisper, so only I could hear which was probably smart with the amount of people eavesdropping on our conversation. "Beck..."

I wasn't quite so smart as the brunette sitting in front of me though. "To get over BECK!" I yelled and suddenly my friends looked ready to pounce.

"Wait!" Derek said, I guess he was always the voice of reason. "Did it work...?" He asked her and I crossed my fingers hoping she'd be clever enough to answer correctly.

"No..." as the words were uttered I could see Ryan and Nikki go 'into' attack position' and Ryan snarled, well I don't really like using that word about my friends but in this case it really was actually a snarl and there was no other way to describe it.

"Get out!" Aphrodite glanced at me and I shrugged back at her, at this point there was nothing I could do.

"OUT!" She screamed again and this time Aphrodite raced for the door, she left just as Aspen and Jamie arrived, and they took one look at her and just nodded. When you're around us things like that happen all the time.

"Thanks for the lift Ryan." Jamie said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Which now that I think about it, Jamie's voice often is... but never mind.

I looked at Ryan in confusion as she headed over to Jamie to have _her _daily snog with her new boyfriend, she had got here ten minutes ago.

"She picked us up then dumped us out and told us to walk the rest of the way." You know what, that sounded like Ryan. But I could have sworn that Aspen just _winked _at her, that together with her outfit and... Oh god, this was about my brother wasn't it. Quick Jazz think about something else. Oh look, now I'm talking to myself, I've got to stop doing that... I am now talking to myself to tell myself to stop talking to myself. Good logic there, Jazz... Wait... Urgh...

But don't worry soon something came to distract me... or should I say someone? To be more specific Maddie walked through the door and we all pretty much froze in shock. She was a girl whose face I hadn't seen in a long time and a face that some of us (Jamie himself included sometimes) had thought we would never see alive again.

**Wow... (I use a lot of dot dot dots don't I) how long has it been since I updated this one. Three stories running is harder than I thought. Especially when I have to try and keep up with the speed that Pinkbull writes in Turning Tables, but it**

**Oh and before I forget I would like to thank Gothic Guitars for giving me the idea for the top bit of Nerek. Not that she knew she was giving it to me at the time. But it stemmed from a conversation we had earlier. And for those I haven't already said it to "MERRY CHRISTMAS"**

**Santa, Sensitivity, Serenity and Insanity**

**CANON 24**


	12. I'm So Very, Very Lucky

_**Maddie's POV**_

I stared around me, so confused. Nothing really made that much sense to me anymore. There were kind of just massive blanks and I kept trying to focus and remember, but it was all too hard. The last thing I could remember was New Year, I was out with Cat and Jazz… or somebody, I can't remember. None of it seems to make any sense in my mind at all, it's driving me nuts.

I lost two months of my life, gone, in a flash. And the situation seems to have changed, the only thing I knew about my life, sitting in that bed, while I was honestly considered brain-dead was that Jamie was there every day. Trina visited me at the start, but slowly things phased out. I think she decided to let me go. They thought I'd be happy up where I was going; only my brother seemed to cling to the last remainders of life inside of me.

But I guess I was lucky, wasn't I? Some people are stuck in comas for years. I was only in one for a couple months. I haven't got amnesia, I didn't wake up thinking I was still 13.

So I was lucky…

I was lucky my dad wanted to switch of my life support. I was so lucky I managed to lose my best friend because she thought I was actually dead. I was so lucky I've missed a month of school work and all those opportunities, if you fall behind at Hollywood Arts, sometimes you never catch up. Jamie told me about the play Jazz wrote, that got selected for the theatrical showcase, which could be the thing that made her famous. She could become a director in Hollywood, making millions. The worse thing was as well, that she thought up the play two months ago, a boy who is scared to live his life after his mother died in a car accident and ends up at a new school. He meets a girl, and this girl teaches him to have confidence again, and slowly draws him out of his shell. I even partly suggested that the two are on a school trip and the girl leads him into a cave, because she tells him to be adventurous, but she falls and this guy must overcome his nerves to help her. And to overcome his nerves to tell her how he's now feeling about her. She promised me the lead in it, but I suppose I wasn't here, she didn't know if I was going to come back. I heard from Jamie that Nikki got the lead.

I wasn't quite sure how that had happened… the character in her head had been created for me to play, not her. The character wasn't a tomboy; she was just someone who wasn't afraid to be who she was. She wore make-up and did her hair, but that didn't mean she couldn't run like the wind. Nikki was the very eminent of tomboy, this was my role. But I guess now it wasn't it… it was here's.

I was so very _lucky_, wasn't I?

When did I get so shallow, and bitter? I think I was still confused about what was going on. I went to clutch my brother's hand, I hated being so very vulnerable at the moment, but if the only one I had to show it to was my little brother I would be fine. I had seen him vulnerable too, I had seen him obsess over Cat, and I had seen him in full fury over my dad. I had even seen him cry when mom died. Then we had both held each other's hand.

But as I turned to look at Jamie, I froze in shock at Ryan all over his face. What had happened to Cat? She broke of and turned to look at Aspen, who honestly looked like she was ready for a date, but who was here that she could be dating. I put my face in my hands, none of this made any sense at all to me.

Jamie looked at Ryan and smiled, I could see a twinkle in his eyes that he only used to get when he was around Cat. I honestly think he may have been over her… and that made no sense to me because the Jamie I knew would never get over Cat… and I always knew my brother the best out of anybody. Or at least I did…

I walked to sit down, but then I noticed that everybody in the room's eyes were firmly focused on mine. A massive smile lit up Jazz, Connor and Derek's face, and Nikki looked happy too. I slowly gave them a wave with my hand and then Jazz broke the silence, running towards me and giving me an absolutely massive hug.

"Oh My God!" She screamed. "Maddie!" We began our signature happy dance, jumping up and down, I guess I hadn't been away that long.

"I have _so _missed having somebody to happy dance with… Nikki has been a poor replacement." _Replacement…? _I know Jazz and I had never exactly been best friends, but we had been close, the hospital said she had visited a few times, even when Trina had stopped coming about a month through. Had I been replaced?

Before I had time to think about it though the rest of the surged onto me, including Ryan, Aspen and Jamie who had already said their hello's and how very excited they were back at the house. So basically I was sandwiched into this _massive _group hug, and I loved every second of it. This hadn't really been my group, it was slightly more Jamie's friends. I spent more time with Cat and Trina and Robbie, but I guess I should give them a chance. Each and every one of them here, even Nikki, had visited me to the end. Some of them with Jamie when he came, but that was more than I could say about my absolute _bff_, Trina, who by the look of the girl who had just been chased out the door for being Trina's best friend. I had told her when I woke up, but she didn't come… it was her birthweek right now, but I thought she'd care about me enough to come. Think I had been well and truly replaced there.

Anyway as the group released me I slowly sat down and Jazz spoke up. "As much as I'd love to have an OMG we'd missed Maddie so much and we love her so much, conversation, we have two weeks to get this ready, so can we do the scene?" Everybody laughed at this, but Nikki and Connor made their way up to the stage.

"By the way, Maddie, OMG we missed you so much and we love you so much." She whispered and I smiled at her. "Okay, go from the last line of the song, just before the kiss." She had cast Connor as the lead male… She had promised me she would, because she had always known how I felt about him and even a stage kiss with Connor Davis would make me just about as happy as I could possibly be. But that was another thing I had missed. I was so very lucky.

"You better not be frozen in fear, when danger is near." Nikki sang, and I couldn't help the pang of jealousy that came up in me, that was my line.

Connor looked at Nikki intensely, and gave a smile.

"It's not that simple… life's harder than that." He said, a slight tear almost falling, Connor could really act, and I know I would do a lot to make him look at me like that.

"No… it really isn't." Nikki told him in a whisper and smiled. At that moment Connor went in for the kiss and I felt them sway, it looked long and passionate, I could see Derek wincing in the corner. It was hard to believe it was just a stage kiss… it looked like so much more. Jazz twitched a bit, and I could see a tell-tale sign of jealousy on her face, but it was masked quickly.

Eventually, after what had seemed to be a century the two broke of each other and Jazz called thankfully, "And scene! That was perfect you guys."

Nikki smiled at that and said, "Shall we do another take?"

Both Jazz and Derek burst out at the same time. "NO!" I looked at my friend again, surprised, what was with Jazz and Connor? What had happened while I was gone?

"Okay, shall we skip to the scene with Alessia talking to her brother…?" They nodded and Nikki walked into a difference position while Derek walked onto the scene." That was _slightly _weird casting there. Derek as his girlfriend's brother, _awkward, _but I guess he did have the over protective brother thing down.

Connor sat down right next to Jazz. "okay, I take it back, I hated every moment of it…" She whispered into his ear. They were acting like a couple.

"Well that's good, because so did I." And then my heart stopped, because he leaned in, and he kissed her.

It killed me, I had liked Connor since I could remember, like Jamie's crush on Cat, but I was more discrete about it. But Jazz had known, Jazz had known I liked the guy. And Jazz had gone ahead and gone out with him anyway.

Yeah, I'm so _very, very lucky._

_**Tense! So that is Maddie well and truly introduced back into the story. I did adapt her slightly from her form livvy, because this is not AU with a load of character stuck into the story that aren't in there in the show. It is supposed to be a storyline that could happen in the victorious storyline which means they can't be extremely close to any of the major Victorious character's or they'd have appeared in the show. And I have now fixed a point in the Victorious plotline were we are, Trina's birthweek. Tell me if there are any specific episodes you'd like me to cover btw, or if there are some you really don't want me to cover.**_

_**But I hope I still did her justice, I know when you put Connor down as her crush, Jonnor didn't exist yet. (Thank you GG, for that acronym as well and Jyan and Naspen - no prizes for guessing what they refer to) but don't worry, Maddie may eventually get her crush. Or she may not… we'll see.**_

_**Oh, and any TTOD readers here… I only have two reviews for my latest chapter, that's my lowest yet and I'm getting to the climax! How does that make sense? Sorry for the self-advertising, but it's annoying me. I can't tell if people have read it and not reviewed or if they just haven't bothered to read it yet.**_

_**Oh and check out the poll on my profile.**_

_**Sorry for the amazing long AN btw…**_


	13. Thinking Hurts

_**Aspen's POV**_

I think we were all pretty confused at this point in time. But somehow it didn't seem like Jamie's twin would want to be treated as an invalid, she'd just want to be treated like everybody else. As so that's what we had elected we would do. She'd been slightly put off when Ryan just dumped us out of the car… claiming she had too little gas to hold three more people, which actually made _no _sense, but she was used to Ryan. She had dumped me so I would make more of an appearance, being the last to come. Not that it had really mattered; Nick wasn't in the room anyway. It was all a bit of a pointless exercise, wasn't it actually? And it did create a little pounding in my head that I figured would probably stay with me for a while. But I wanted there to be one more couple in here for Maddie to get confused about. That's what had been keeping me up at night.

She was going through the same reaction I had gone through a week ago, looking at Ryan and Jamie kissing in the corner, and Connor and Jazz's peck on the lips. But I guess now I wasn't alone in my depressing single-hood. What was up with me lately? All I've done is moan and complain, or been determined on getting one guy, who also happens to be one of my best-friends brother. I guess it's probably got quite a bit to do with that unexpected piece of my past I was forced to look at every history lesson. Remind me again why I chose to take that stupid subject. I don't actually need you to remind me by the way, my mom's given it to me every single time I've complained about it.

And I guess I've complained about it a lot. But it hurts, get it? It hurts seeing the guy who once claimed he didn't care about the rules, as long as we could be together, and that the future never mattered as long as you were there in his arms, call you by your surname if he had to talk to you at all and most of the time just pretended I didn't exist. Most people thought I was lucky I guess, I could get away with anything in class, sitting in the back and pretty obviously texting, yeah that's absolutely fine with him, he didn't want to go through the trouble of actually walking over to me and telling me off, or confiscating my phone. I just had to be in the class somewhere. I tried to do the same thing to him that he was doing to me, but it all seemed to fall flat on its face, he was the teacher at the front, talking twenty four/seven, it was hard to completely block him out, even when texting, or reading something else, or even having your earphones in. I think I might have just been doing all this to get him to pay attention to me.

I've just gone on a two minute rant about Toby, haven't I? Well yeah, I think I should shut up now; this is not why I am here. I am here to move on with my life, I can't be stuck in a loop, going round in circles. And my world does not revolve around my history teacher, I'm not that dumb.

Oh man, now my head hurts and I mean seriously hurts. I've been obsessing over this far too much. What was a little nagging pain now is beginning to feel like hammers pounding on my skull. The music kicks in, only making it even worse, the lack of sleep adding to the building ache of the head, (I like to be original, okay?) And slowly I closed my eyes and leant back against the sofa, shutting my eyes and trying to ignore the massively loud song that was accompanied by the drum beats inside of my head.

"Aspen!" A call came from Jazz and I saw they were about to rehearse my scene. "Aspen, are you okay…?" She asked slowly, trying to take in the difference between me now and me when I had walked in, which I had to admit was quite different. "You've gone pale."

"My head hurts" I told her, partly just not wanting to go onstage and perform. God, what had my life come to? Just thinking about my History teacher had begun to make me sick.

Jazz nodded across the room. "It's fine, we'll run a different scene. Do you want some aspirin?" I nodded and Jazz yelled, "Nick!" He popped his head out the kitchen and looked at his little sister. Seeing him, reminded me why I am here, and I knew Jazz had set me up, it may have creeped her out, knowing that I liked Nick, but she was dealing with it, and I was thankful for that. "Can you show Aspen the aspirin?" He smiled as Jazz asked him that and turned his attention over to me.

"Sure… it's in the kitchen." He gestured to me and I followed him through the door, sitting down on the nearest chair as he reached into one of the highest shelves to grab the aspirin and got me a glass of water. As he handed it to me he smirked,

"Jazz would have got it for you herself, but she still can't reach it… our parents out it up there when we were little so we couldn't mess around with medicine, and I guess Jazz just never got tall enough to reach the top shelf." I smiled at this, and reached for my medicine, swallowing it quickly and washing it down with water.

I sat back, waiting for it to numb the pain, but focused my attention back onto Nick. "Sounds like Jazz" I commented. She wasn't small, she was about average height, but Nick was about 6'3, so he was a good 6 inches taller than his _little _sister.

"Yeah… however much she decides to change her looks, she has always been smaller than me and always will be." I raised my eyebrows; picturing Jazz at 6'3… it was a very funny image.

"It would be quite strange if she wasn't…." He laughed, loudly and it was funny, even his laugh had an accent. How can a laugh have an accent? It was pretty strange, but just kind of mad my like him more. Wait, what was I doing? This was my first bit of alone time with Nick and I was talking all about Jazz. But I guess I was nervous, I didn't know what else to say to him. He reached over and put his hand on my forehead, and I shrunk back from him, slightly confused.

"I'm checking you don't have a temperature." Okay, that made more sense.

"And…" I looked up at him, he was currently towering over me, but that was because I was sitting down.

"Nope, you're fine." And as he said that I could kind of feel the medicine kicking in. He smiled and took a step back, leaning on the kitchen counter. "Do you feel any better, the aspirin may take a little while to kick in, but it should help. So what's with the play going on in the middle room?" He asked and I smiled, Jazz didn't share a lot with her brother. Either that or he was completely oblivious.

"Jazz got chosen for the young director's showcase, it's a really big deal, and there's going to be talent scouts and agents coming to see the big performance at the end of the month. She's only been obsessing about it for the last week." He smiled sheepishly.

"Probably should have known that…" he shrugged "What can you do? So do you have a good part?" HE asked and I shrugged, mimicking his actions.

"Not really, it's alright but I'm not one of the major actors."

"Well I think you're great." I looked up at him, surprised. "I saw you in the big showcase. You were amazing. So are you in costume?" I looked down at my outfit, it did seem a little bit much to rehearse a play, but there was no way in hell I was going to tell him why I was wearing it. I shook my head.

"Oh, well I think you look really nice."

"Thanks…" I said and Nick began to look nervously around the room.

"Aspen, I need to ask you something." I waited, hoping that the question he wanted to ask was the question I wanted to answer.

But at that moment Ryan walked into the room, giving me an apologetic look.

"Aspen, Jazz needs you." She told me and I shot her a death glare.

"But…" when I started to protest Ryan simply began to drag me out the room

"Well, I guess I'll see you later." Nick said and I sighed, that had been my chance… oh Ryan was going to get it.

_**Do I really have to remind you to review? Not so much on this story I suppose, but does nobody like TTOD anymore? Seriously, one review! (Thanks GG btw) I used to average at, at least four. But enough of me talking, my ANs have been too long lately.**_

_**Sensitivity, Serenity, and Insanity**_

_**CANON 24**_


	14. Birthday!

_**Ryan's POV**_

How long ago had this play actually started? Because it seemed like this had all gone by in a flash, a lot had happened in our week of rehearsals. Jade had amazingly managed to dump Beck and then get back with him a day later. I will never forget the look of shock on people's faces as she yelled across the room.

"What do you care, I'm not your girlfriend anymore!" It was just a bit of a shock to the system, but Aspen and I had to exchange glances, there was no way this would last long. I was just ever so slightly, oh I don't know, amazing, that she had ever even got the guts to say this in the first place. But what a shocker they were back together in what, half a day?

Jamie and I were still going steady though. Wait, why am I narrating my own life again? Maybe I'm the only person that has anything interesting going on in my life. No, that can't be right, we're us there is always something going in our lives, we're like a Soap Opera… but we're in High School. Maybe we're Gossip Girl! Or not… yeah, nowhere near.

Why on Earth am I so bloody hyper today? I'm really sounding like Cat, a lot! Maybe that's because it's my… BIRTHDAY… on Friday! Am I really such a little girl that the idea of my birthday makes me so happy? No I am not, I am Ryan Chadwick. Actually I'm pretty sure anybody reading this already knew that.

Aaah! I almost wanted to get this birthday over and done with so I could get back to my normal self. Get out of that smiley, giggly, glittery, Cat-like world.

I slid round to my locker, catching site of Aspen and Jazz chatting out of the very corner of my eye. As they neared me I finished with my books and waiting for the birthday train to explode. I felt a tap on my back and braced myself, only to find, two very normal looking faces.

"Hey, what's got you so happy?" Aspen asked, a confused smile lingering on her face, as the smile on mine very quickly dissolved. As hard as I tried not to I couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed, that they had forgotten. But my life had been pretty much perfect for the last two weeks; I had a perfect guy who I had very honestly been crushing on for approximately two years. And he was happy too; he really did have a reason to be like that though. The pure joy every time he was around Maddie now was enough to put a smile on anybody's face.

So I think compared to all of that awesomeness, people forgetting my birthday means absolutely nothing at all, does it. So what's that sinking feeling doing in my stomach?

"Ryan?" Okay, sometimes I forget time doesn't just decide to stop when I'm thinking.

"It's nothing…" I forced that grin back onto my face. It didn't matter anyway.

"I think I know!" Jazz perked up and for a second I thought she really had remembered it… before she finished.

"It's your two week anniversary with Jamie on Saturday!" Okay… was it stupid of me to think that jumping off on a two week anniversary, but I think I'll stay for the one month one, when something is actually likely to be successful. I think two weeks may be slightly jumping the gun, because I'm pretty sure there will be plenty more.

"Does that mean it is therefore you and Connor's on Friday?" the date on my birthday.

A giant smile formed right on Jazz's face, she was most definitely the kind of person to get really excited over a two week anniversary.

"Maybe…?" She smiled and gave the tiniest giggle about it. As she started to talk about how fantastic it was with Connor I could see the boys slowly creeping up behind Aspen and Jazz, and had to stop myself slowly letting out a laugh to almost mirror Jazz's.

Connor slid his hand across Jazz's waist and she spun around to him, the smile on her face only increasing. They leant in for that first expression of PDA, which it was surprising as hell that they hadn't done yet, but I guess Jazz was just a little bit too shy.

But the bell rang out, and we all massively groaned, before having to eventually head to our individual lessons. It seemed like we always seemed to share lessons, and even now I was looking around for Nikki to go to our R&B Vocals lesson. The only lesson we actually had on our own were are instrumental lessons. I got stuck playing the… wait for it…. Flute! Can you actually imagine me playing the flute? I don't know how my mom managed to rope me into it.

"So see you later?" I asked Jazz and Aspen as they turned and exited as well, nodding as they disappeared giggling. I turned around, deciding that Nikki would have to meet me there and found myself literally two inches from her.

"Leaving without me? How could you?" She smirked and I gave her a glare and turning off down the corridor waiting for her to trail along behind me.

_**Jamie's POV**_

"Wait up!" I called running completely late to my electronic music lesson. Yeah, I said that right, electronic music, basically just completely messing with my voice and my music and making it sound completely awesome.

Derek and Connor stopped, looked at me and then decided to walk on, forcing me to actually run to catch them up. I got there panting, I really needed to do more exercise, right now I had no doubt my own girlfriend could beat me up. I may have said that before.

"So you guys free this Friday?" I asked and they smiled knowingly, I guess Jazz and Aspen had already got to them first.

"Definitely, you doing something for Ryan?" Derek asked and I nodded, well at least I hoped we were, but at the moment we had drawn a complete blank on where to throw it. But I knew the type of girl Ryan was and I thought it was very unlikely that if we'd actually asked her she wouldn't have just shot me down immediately.

"Yep, if we can find somewhere to host it" I told him and Derek cracked a smile.

"That would be why my girlfriend absolutely begged me to not say anything at all to Ryan about her birthday and to make her sure I had forgotten it." Connor smirked.

"Why did you tell the girls before you told us anyway?" I knew if I told my twin then everybody would know much quicker than if I had to tell everybody myself. It was amazing to have Maddie back, she'd only been out of her hospital bed for about half a week, (they'd wanted to keep her there for a few days after she'd woken up to make sure she'd okay) but she was already back at school and it feels like she never left. Except I can't forget the pain that the fact she did have to go, caused our family for two whole years.

"Maddie" They nodded with a smile as they knew how much she loved to gossip.

"So did you say you needed a place?" Connor smiled as they headed off to whatever class they had.

* * *

><p><em><strong>That was quite a long chapter, (well not that long) that absolutely nothing happened in, wasn't it? Oh well, it's just a filler, moving on to bigger and better things. But at least I gave Ryan a well-deserved POV this chapter, although unfortunately there was no Jyan, but some will come, that was a really rubbish Jamie POV so we'll get some more. And that brings me on to my question, or rather three questions.<strong>_

_**Try to be honest and not just say your own OC that you submitted: anybody without an OC, would you please answer them too. And there isn't really a reason for it, I'm just curious.**_

_**Who have you not seen enough off in this story? (Who have I been the most unfair to in terms of POVs and plot-lines and all that)**_

_**Who is your favourite character?**_

_**Favourite Couple?**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>The Name Is A Lie, As Is The Cake<strong>___

_**I-Am-Not-A-Smiley-Person**_


	15. That Bloody Bet

_**Derek's POV**_

I had finally done it. My girlfriend was going to stay where she should always be, right here next to me at Hollywood Arts. My family had _finally _agreed to all of it. I knew he'd come around. And when I say he I mean my father. My Mom was perfectly fine with it. It was just my Dad being a pain in my ass. Finally he figured out that if we didn't let Nikki stay there was a very high chance she'd just find an apartment to live in and live by herself.

I'm not even kidding. Do not underestimate Nikki, and I mean that. She seriously injured the last person to do that. Okay, maybe not seriously injured… maybe not even injured but they had to pay one hell of a dry cleaning bill.

No, I'm not going to explain any of that. I'm cool like that. I've also got super cheesy lately. I think I'm going to attribute that to pure happiness at the moment. I also suggest that Nikki could stay in my room but I suspect that might have been pushing my luck slightly.

Can you guess what my Dad said to that? If the answer to that was no you are an idiot. I guess that might make me an idiot though, because I asked it in the first place.

But seriously at the moment I was resisting doing a happy dance. Can you imagine the sight of me doing a happy dance? It was funny enough seeing Nikki doing the happy dance with Jazz. And I may have slipped in a video of that and put it up on YouTube. I have absolutely no doubts that my girlfriend would not hesitate to the exact same thing. Although to be fair she would probably be as happy as I was right now when I told her.

I saw her approaching and put my hands around her eyes, thankfully I wasn't in front of a mirror this time. That was almost as stupid as me prank calling her without blocking my number. Yeah, I'm definitely cool like that.

"Derek, knock it off." I could actually feel her smiling through my hands.

"Okay, fine." I said, with fake disappointment in my voice, I spun her around and kissed her on the lips.

"Guess what?"

"What?" Her smile grew wider.

"You can stay!" And with that she screamed, she screamed with this ear piercing scream that drove me nuts and my hands reached up to cover my ears.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes...!" She yelled and then stopped as the whole corridor turned to stare at her. She turned faintly red.

"They said yes?" Nikki asked me, breathless from all of that screaming.

"No." I said point blank and watched her face fall. "You are an idiot, you know that?" At which point she hit me, justifiably I think. What does it say about me that I'm so whipped that I take my girlfriend's side over my own. Kidding! Wait, this is my inner monologue, she can't hear me in her… actually I think I better not under-estimate Nikki.

"Of course they said you could stay!" Nikki screamed again.

Ryan walked past at that point, giving Nikki the weirdest look. Then she went back to looking depressed. I felt kind of bad for the girl on her birthday, but at least she was getting a surprise party later tonight, it had actually been hell though, to make sure everybody had kept the secret for long enough.

Although Jamie was insisting that she absolutely hated surprises. I think he just can't bear to see his girlfriend unhappy, which is really sweet, but it's just a day. I'm absolutely sure I would have no trouble doing that with Nikki.

Okay, maybe not.

But I should be protecting Nikki, that's what a good boyfriend should do, and I am good boyfriend through and through. Except maybe for the jealousy… okay maybe except entirely for the jealously… But you've got to be able to forgive a guy on that. I mean look at Jade and she and Beck are still together, despite last week. Yeah, that wasn't fun. Why can't we get through one week _without _drama? Oh right, because we're Hollywood Arts. Sometimes I wish I went to Northridge, or Sherwood… but then I know I'd miss it here. I fought hard to get accepted and I'm not about to give all of that up. Even if girls end up on stage dressed as a Zombie, or a guy with a puppet goes around with a camera and putting it online.

The bell went, calling us to our last period of the day, improv thank the Lord. Jazz, Ryan and Maddie suddenly appeared next to Nikki to ask her why she had been screaming so I jogged to catch up with Jamie and Connor who were just a little ahead of me.

Connor glanced back at me as I approached.

"Dude, you are so whipped. You let her stay in your house?" I looked at him, first of all wondering how he knew that, and second of all taking offense, despite the fact that I had just made that comment to myself. But then again, nobody knew that.

"You were talking pretty loud." Jamie added, a massive smirk on his face that I just wanted to wipe off.

"I'm not whipped." I protesting, causing the guys to laugh massively. "It's not funny."

"You so are." Jamie replied, deadly serious.

"I am not!" I have no idea why I was getting so worked up about this.

"Prove it." Connor said, the smirk on his face mirroring the very annoying one on Jamie's face. Okay, I know why I was getting so annoyed, because I didn't want these guys to be right about anything.

"How?" I asked.

"Don't talk to Nikki for an entire week. That'll prove you're not whipped." I stared at Jamie, when on Earth did he get so devious?

"How?" I repeated.

"It just will." Connor said. So they were going to make me do it, despite the fact it would actually prove nothing.

"I bet you can't do it." That was it, they were really getting on my last nerve.

"It's a bet."

"And if you lose you have to publically declare to the entire school you are whipped." I really, really hated devious Jamie.

"Deal. But if I win, then you two have to admit you are total idiots, and that you wonder why anybody would ever date you and that you don't deserve a single girl."

"Deal." Connor said and in that moment I wondered why on Earth I had agreed to this, I didn't want to not talk to Nikki for an entire week. Especially as the play was this Monday and she'd be sure nerves like hell. I'm sure they'd let my character talk to her character though.

"Can my character talk to her character in the play on Monday?" They both nodded so that was okay, not that I'd be able to back out of it now.

We reached the improve classroom and I sat down, praying I didn't get Nikki as my partner.

Nikki sat down next to me.

"Hey." She said.

I was forced not to reply.

_**I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know I've been really bad, but on the bright side he's an update and I am still here and it's half-term so you'll probably get another one this week.**_

_**Please check out my new story The Reaper Takes It All… please.**_

_**And Review.**_

_**Please check it out.**_

_**The Name Is A Lie, As Is The Cake**_

_**(Please)**_

_**:)**_

_**(Please)**_


	16. Let's Get This Party Started

_**Connor's POV**_

I was sitting there cleaning up the place for Ryan's birthday party… actually maybe you'd have to call it making more mess. There were streamers everywhere and balloons, and loads of stuff that I knew would be absolute hell to clean up at the end of the party.

But then, again we can deal with that at the end of the party, and not right now. Right now my little sister Annabelle was having fun with silly string, and it was really fun just watching her. The kid really needed some joy in her life, especially with our deadbeat Mom and the different guy she brings home every night. Hell, even Jade was with us today, although she did spend half the time complaining about Robbie and his new blog, Robarazzi. I was just glad he had decided to stay out of our business. We really didn't need him blowing our party or deciding to ruin our relationships… although maybe I was speaking too soon. The blog had only been up for about half a day after all, and it was still up there.

I heard the door open and Aspen was leaning against the door post.

"Ding dong…" She smiled and Jade rolled her eyebrows at her.

"Is Sam...?"

"At your place" Aspen smiled as she answered Jade's unfinished question.

"See ya." She said to Aspen waving to her on her way out.

"Bye." I said… and Jade turned to look at me before carrying on her way. Ouch… that hurt.

"So how's it going" She asked me, fighting off Annabelle who was trying to completely cover her in silly string.

"No… don't Annabelle…" I scolded and she just giggled and did it on other sides of the room. "Yeah, we're doing well… we just need to have Jazz and Nikki arrive with the cake." Just then Derek walked out of my kitchen holding two beers in his hand.

Hang on, why… when did Derek get in my kitchen?

"Belle let me in while you were taking a wazz." I cringed at Derek's crude vocab in front of my seven year old sister, and the new nickname that she only let Derek call her. 'Belle' was turning ever so slightly red, and I getting a slight suspicion that she had a little crush on my best friend. She was seven so it was cute. If she'd been sixteen, I'd have hit him… Man, that didn't bode well for me and Nick.

"Did I hear Nikki?"

"You can't talk to her." I silenced him.

"Yeah, but I just want to see her…" That was actually really sweet. "Beer?"

"Yeah sure…"

"Cool." Aspen said behind me and I looked at her surprised. "What beer's just for guys?" I smirked at that. "Toss it."

A bottle flew over my head but Aspen caught it with ease.

"Me too" I smiled.

"But I only have…" Derek looked down at the one bottle left in his hand.

"That's your fault."

"Fine" The second one came just as quickly as the first and I couldn't believe I caught it… my reflexes aren't that good for a guitar player. And then Derek disappeared into the kitchen for a second.

The door opened for a second time and in came Jazz, Nikki and… Maddie. I had to remember Maddie and start including her in my lists. Derek's head resurfaced…

"Oh, man I guess you girls want beer as well." They all did a little nod and he went back before coming out with another six pack. He placed it on the table and smiled.

"Help yourself."

I saw Annabelle going for one and I gave her a little glare.

"Annabelle, your seven and its eight o'clock… bed time. She groaned but reluctantly headed upstairs. I thanked God my sister was so well behaved sometimes… although it didn't always feel like it.

"How'd you get the beer anyway?" Nikki asked as Jazz and Maddie exchanged evils for some reason that I couldn't fathom. Derek looked at me with pleading eyes, and I almost felt bad as I did a little shake of my head… almost.

"Nick…" Jazz's eyes shifted to me surprised.

"Nick got you beer?" Well, actually Nick got Derek beer, as a favour from one guy to another… he wouldn't exactly want me to be drunk around his little sister.

"Yep" I smiled and Jazz's jaw actually dropped.

"How does Nick even get beer… isn't he only a senior." Maddie asked, obviously forgetting that she was supposed to be giving Jazz the evils at the moment. No wait, they were still there. My phone buzzed as she began to explain about how Nick's Dad just bought him beer, because he'd always been growing up expecting to able to drink when he was eighteen… and he knew it was annoying not being able to go out to a pub when all his friends back home could. I had got the… how stupid is it that you can't buy alcohol over here under 21 lecture before… that's like the third year of college lecture before.

I checked me phone, and almost screamed as I got my little message saying that Jamie and Ryan were on their way.

"And I mean, you should totally be able to buy beer in Upper Sixth…" Everybody just sort of stared at Jazz blankly… "Senior Year…" We all 'oohed' in understanding at that.

"Hey honey, sorry to hurry you… but Jamie and Ryan are literally like outside the door, we might want to turn off the lights."

_**Ryan's POV**_

"Okay, why on Earth are we here?" I asked… seriously confused. Was it not bad enough that nobody all day, had remembered my birthday, that is apart from Sinjiin. And that was just completely creepy…

Not even my boyfriend had wished me a happy birthday for turning sixteen, which was depressing. I was excusing him because his mind had all been about Maddie recently, but I knew that eventually that excuse would wear out. I just didn't know what excuse I would replace it with yet, so I was keeping it for now. I opened the door to Connor's house, gloomily and yelled up the stairs.

"Ding Dong!" It was a bit of a running gag with me. I drearily reached for the light switch and as the lights came on I notices hundred off balloons and banners and most importantly.

"SURPRISE!" I screamed so loud that Jamie put his hand over my mouth.

"Seriously…" Connor smiled "Does anybody ring the doorbell anymore… my little sister's sleeping."

I raised my eyebrows at him… "And…" He turned away and went back to his conversation with Jazz.

I then proceeded to hit Jamie…

"I hate surprises." I screamed at him and he smiled at me, causing me to hit him again. "I really, really hate surprises… in fact, I almost did a wazz in my pants then."

"Then we'd have got you some new pants then… I'm sure Jazz leaves some around her sometimes." He smirked and Jazz turned her head back around to face him.

"How much, off a slut do you think I am… plus, I am not lending Ryan my underwear." I raised an eyebrow at her and was pleased to see Jamie do exactly the same thing.

"I didn't ask you to…" He smirked.

"But you said pants… wait, English sorry." Connor laughed behind Jazz as she turned bright red.

I turned back to Jamie…

"I'm really sorry here, but I have one more surprise." Jamie whispered for only me to hear him.

I narrowed my eyes at him, but he slid a gold necklace out of his pocket. It was elegant, twirling writing, saying only 'Ryan'. I wasn't normally the type to wear too much jewellery, but I just fell in love it instantly. He slipped it around my neck and my world was a lot happier than it had been earlier this evening.

I kissed him, and just kept kissing him until I heard a loud cough from behind me. I broke off reluctantly, and shot a glare into the background of people waiting for me to stop kissing my boyfriend.

"Well…" I screamed and Connor motioned to upstairs…

"She sleeps with earplugs though, so we should be okay… but don't scream."

"Well…" I said in an overdone whisper before rising back to my previous tempo. "Let's get this party started!"

_**I was just about to apologise for leaving it so long to update and then I realised I updated this three days ago… so I'm fine then. And some Jyan for those of you that like it. Naspen will come in either the next chapter or more probably the one after that. Anybody who likes Jonnor (actually you know what I'm going to re-name it Cazz (Jazz/Connor fyi)) anybody who likes Cazz may be disappointed next chapter.**_

___**And bananagirl... you are actually the first other British person I have met on this site. Oh, and OMG Alex Pettyfer... am I the only one that remembers him when he was a kid in Stormbreaker... And then in Wildchild... man I watched that movie so much. And it's funny you picture him as Alex Pettyfer because he was originally based on my bro... and my bro is no Alex Pettyfer. But my image of Nick has now pretty much changed from my bro by now. I just originally thought it would be funny to write my very English bro in America.**_

_** Oh, a**__**nd I have more qu's! Yay!**_

_**Fav moment:**_

_**Fav line:**_

_**Fav kiss:**_

_**The Name Is A Lie, As Is The Cake**_

_**:)**_


	17. Everybody Loves A Love Triangle

_**Maddie's POV**_

My brain was tumbling all over the place, I couldn't think straight anymore. I was back into my old routine and somehow it didn't seem like I had even left most of the time. But there were still some things that were different. Trina didn't acknowledge my existence, Cat didn't recognise me and Jazz had stolen the guy I liked. That's the bit that hit me hardest, the bit at the end. I had told myself not to think about it and to just enjoy myself, but it was hard.

But had been looking forward to Ryan's party almost since the first time I got up. It was quite funny how excited Jamie was about the whole thing. He really wanted to her to be happy and it was one of the sweetest things I had seen. I had never really liked how Jamie had been so head over heels for Cat. They weren't going to happen, and you saw the way she would look at Robbie. Plus, Ryan actually understands what's going on half the time.

Cat is awesome, literally amazing, but is not the brightest person.

Ryan's birthday party filled up quickly. Apparently Rex had decided to post about it on the Slap. We had loads of guys in here, loads of girls… we could pretty much count on most of the people from Hollywood Arts being somewhere in the party, as well as some of the girls from Northridge. It seemed like they had gotten sluttier since I was last here, but I really wasn't sure that it was possible until now. Those girls were pretty slutty to begin with.

Jazz hadn't even remembered that I liked him in the first place.

It was driving me completely insane. Every time I tried to put him out of my head, his face would come back into my mind and refuse to vacate it. I would see him brushing through his hair in her head or would picture his eyes, shining like water so deep I could fall right in and drown. It physically hurt to think of him and Jazz together. It made me angry, made me furious. I wanted to murder the girl who had been my friend. Why was a guy doing this to me? Oh yeah, because it really wasn't just any guy, it was Connor. Why did that guy have to make

When Jazz hit the stage with a mic in her hand I just went for it. I knew Jazz didn't mean it but it hurt so badly. I walked straight through the dance floor to Connor and tapped him on the back nervously.

He turned and then suddenly I could see his face. The butterflies in my stomach started breed and suddenly I felt so nervous I was knew I was going to do something really, really stupid… like puking.

In fact, I could feel the bile begin to rise up in my throat and fought to stop it reaching the surface. Connor noticed as I began to drop slightly.

"Whoa, are you alright?" He asked with honest concern in his face. I felt likewas going to drop on the floor with the way he was looking at me, I honestly thought I was. "Do you need to go lie down?" He asked and I _think_ I nodded, it was slightly _subconscious_. In fact, it was very subconscious, but suddenly he was wrapping his arm around my shoulder and helping me upstairs, to his _bedroom._ It was a bit of a surreal feeling, one that I didn't think I would ever get. I didn't expect to ever be in there.

I could understand why he was so concerned though, I had just been in a coma for months. He felt my forehead, as he laid down me down on the bed. It was just a little bit ironic that he was the entire reason I was so nervous and he was treating me like I was a complete invalid.

"Connor, seriously, I'm fine." I struggled to get the words out as I groaned. Why couldn't I act like a normal person in front of this guy? Once again, he's Connor Davis and he has the ability to kill me without even trying to. For a second I thought about Jazz downstairs and I was aware that I'd been doing what I was so pissed at her for doing to me. But it didn't count, she did it first. I had liked him for as long as I could remember.

"Yeah sure, that sounds right." Connor smirked. "You sure look fine." I laughed lightly, a small smirk appearing on my face to match the one on his. "And your temperature isn't going up steadily by the second."

A little giggle left my lips as he said this and I realised that his hand hadn't left my forehead. I could literally feel my face going bright red.

Connor let out a massive laugh as he looked at me. "It's weird, how on earth do you manage to look pretty when you're going blotchy and you are completely ill." It took me about half a second to register what he had just said. Connor had just called me pretty. And then he said I was blotchy and looked ill. That was not a good sign.

Or was it a good sign, I was pretty? It was confusing. It took Connor a couple more seconds to realise what had just been said. He looked at me for a long second and then covered his mouth.

"I'm sorry, it's just, you're pretty, it's not going to do me a lot of good to deny a fairly obvious truth." If I wasn't the colour of a beetroot already I would definitely be by now.

I cautiously got up from the bed and looked at him.

"You really think that?" I said moving forward a little bit and he raised his eyebrows, giving me a little nod.

And then I kissed him.

And immediately the guilt killed me. I was kissing Jazz's boyfriend while she was downstairs. She was one of my closest friends and she had stuck with me through thick and thin. But…

But…

I felt some need to justify what I was doing but nothing appeared in my mind. I was breaking her heart and I was ruining the first boyfriend she had ever had. Suddenly I broke away from him and backed away.

"Shit." The words left his mouth. "Shit, shit, shit, shit and shit."

"Shit" Another voice came from through the door and we both twisted towards it.

There was a small brunette standing there, giving me a look which made me wish that I dead and right now she looked like she was about to cry. In fact, I could already see tears beginning to drip down her cheeks.

She left the room quickly and I burst out of there, calling Jazz's name while Connor just stood there shell-shocked.

"Jazz!" She ran through the house, pushing past the partiers and heading for the door. I caught her just as she was about to go through it.

"Jazz, please." I whispered but I could see anger in her eyes. It wasn't a very pretty sight and it made me feel bad, knowing that it was me that had put I there. But there was nothing I could do to get around that fact, no matter how I tried to persuade myself otherwise.

"What?" She screamed at me, using a tone I had never heard her use before. "What do you have to say that will make this better? What will change the fact you just made out with the first guy I ever really cared about?" Suddenly my own excuse sounded feeble.

"I liked him first…" I stuttered.

"Months ago, before I was dating him. I thought you'd be happy for me, and be able to except that. I thought you'd moved on anyway. I'm sorry, but you should have talked to me about it, not kissed him!"

I had no response and I just shook my head ever so slightly.

Jazz walked out of the door, letting it slam loudly behind her.

_**I'm so sorry. I disappear for two weeks and then I give you that rubbish. On the bright side it had some relationship drama although I know Cazz isn't most people's fav relationships. What do you think Maddie/Connor (Caddie? Monnor?) or Cazz?**_

_**Oh and cantlivewithnolaughgal, you actually exist! I was a bit sceptical that you were actually reading it. Anyway, hope you like the way I portrayed Connor.**_

_**The Name Is A Lie, As Is The Cake**_

_**:)**_


	18. Cute, Funny or Stalker Dude?

**_Jazz's POV_**

"Months ago, before I was dating him. I thought you'd be happy for me, and be able to except that. I thought you'd moved on anyway. I'm sorry, but you should have talked to me about it, not kissed him!"

I stumbled out onto the street, confused as the cold air hit me. I shivered before realising my coat was still inside, but I knew I wasn't going to go back in to retrieve it. My brain was completely broken and I found it impossible to comprehend what on Earth had just happened. Connor had just kissed a girl, and that girl wasn't me. We were dating. He wasn't supposed to be kissing anybody but me.

So why was he? Why did I come upstairs and find him surgically attached to Maddie's lips? I swear, at that moment, I could actually feel my heart ripping apart. It was a horrible sensation and I would never wish it on anybody… ever. I swear it almost killed me, the way that felt.

Was I stupid for believing that Connor could have actually liked me? Was I just a complete idiot?

The answer to that was definitely 'yes' in a least one way. I couldn't believe I had forgotten about Maddie. In the old days, all she could talk about was Connor; he was her dream and he wouldn't notice her. I was one of the only people that knew that secret, I was one of the only people she trusted. The others were Trina and then Cat, and look where they were now. All of her old friends had betrayed her, even me.

I didn't know whether to hate her, or pity her. I knew I couldn't blame her. It was all she had ever wanted. But that didn't mean that it hurt any less right now. It didn't mean that all the pain I was feeling would suddenly disappear down the drain. It didn't excuse her for being the way she had been. The Maddie I remembered was sweet and she was nice, she wasn't the gank that she was acting as tonight.

The person that I honestly blamed was Connor. Maddie had a crush, and then one day he was taken. I doubted that her brain had even fully processed that yet. Connor was supposed to care about me, and he wasn't supposed to want to hurt me. Yet today, and right now, he had hurt me. I wondered if I hadn't been there if he would have told me. I wondered how long it would have gone before he got up the guts to, or if Maddie would have come to me first.

I sat down with a thud on the step of the house next door to Connor's, feeling the first tear of the night drift down my cheek. I didn't want to react like that, but I couldn't help myself. I had gotten my make-over to try and change myself; for heaven's sake, I got a tattoo! But that didn't seem to have changed anything at all. I was still shy little Jasmine, the girl that people just loved to push around. Sometimes I wondered if that was ever going to change.

And now I was in the same situation I had found myself in before, but this time there was no Connor that was going to rush out and save me. I got up and crossed the road, hoping that Jade would be in, otherwise I was pretty much screwed. Nick was at home, but Mum and Dad were out, and they had ever so conveniently decided to take the last car with them. So I was pretty much completely screwed.

I was hoping that she'd be there and it would all be okay. I knocked on the door once, praying to every single God that I could think of anywhere in my head. There was no answer.

I pounded on it once again, calling out Jade's name as loud as I possibly could. The house stayed as silent as the rest of the night, apart from the music blaring out from across the street. My tears came down stronger and stronger and slowly my face became covered in them.

I groaned, and then started to walk down the road. I had my phone with my GPS in it, and it couldn't be too hard to find some way to get home. Or at least that was I kept telling myself. Deep down, I think I did know how screwed I really was. I had seen what happened last time and then Connor showed up, if he hadn't been there…

Every little noise was beginning to make me jump and be nervous. I slowed my breath, telling myself that I was just being an idiot. I heard a voice call out from behind me, and for a second I could have sworn it was Connor, but it was just my mind playing tricks on me. I spun around fast, praying that somebody had noticed that I was gone and had come to look for me, instead of leaving me out here alone.

I could literally feel my heart deflate in my chest though as I spotted the guy down the road, and it wasn't Connor, or even Jamie or Derek. It wasn't even possible to mistake him for any of them for a second. He had spiky brown hair and dark brown eyes that I could even make out from the distance. His eyes literally looked the colour of chocolate, and somehow they made me feel better just looking at them. As he got closer I could see that he was good-looking, but I couldn't for the life of me see what he was doing.

"How stupid are you?" 'Brown eyes' called as he raced over to me.

In that moment I completely forgot about all those things that had been troubling me before and there was only one thought in my brain. How insulted I was. "Excuse me?"

"Do you know where you are? This is idiocy!" I didn't even know this guy and he was insulting me. "Are you trying to get mugged? You really want to be walking around on you own, at what, twelve o'clock at night?"

"Um…" 'Brown eyes' voice raised into a shout. He was shouting at me and he was a complete stranger.

"Does it look like you can protect yourself?" I didn't even know his name. It was all just getting a little too much for me now. I knew exactly how stupid the whole thing was and how bad a situation I was in, I didn't need him to tell me.

I put my head in my hands and the tears came out stronger.

The boy's eyes widened and a swear word slipped out of his mouth. "Shit… no, I didn't mean it. Don't cry." he protested, his mood completely changing in a millisecond. He thought that it was all because of him.

I struggled to talk through my tears. "No, it's not you. Trust me, if I could get out of here I would. I just… a party… I can't go back in there." Everything piled on top of each other, and just exploded, resulting in, guess what, more tears.

Today was definitely the right day to choose to wear waterproof mascara. I could only imagine how I looked at the moment though. I probably looked like a completely mess. "I just can't go back!"

It almost seem to be an impulse as I collapsed slightly and he put his arms around me.

"Calm down… I'll take you home." He steered me over to a black car. It looked horribly beat up and it didn't look like it would even run at the moment.

I knew how stupid it was to get into a car with a guy I didn't know, but somehow I thought it would be even more stupid to stay here.

He lifted open the door and I got in, hoping that something in this night would finally go well, although it did seem unlikely.

'Brown eyes' got in the driver's seat, which every time I got in a car I had to remind myself _wasn't _on the right.

"Where do you live, anyway?"

Oh, please, please, please, could this one decision not bite me in the ass tonight.

* * *

><p><strong><em>What do you think, crazy stalker dude, complete dick, nice guy or future boyfriend. I figured it was time to level out the boys and the girls. And YOU GUYS LIKE CAZZ! I've never heard anyone of you mention them before. I only found out when I made him cheat on her. And next chapter will be chocked full of Naspen for you, and I think I'm finally going to give Nick a POV, I wasn't going to give him any at all, but I think that's the best way to do it.<em>**

**_The Name Is A Lie, As Is The Cake_**

**_:)_**

_**Oh, and one more thing. I was planning on writing a sort of fantasy thing based of Little Red Riding Hood, but a lot darker. It going to be Candre, but I was just wondering if you guys would read it. It's just I know that Candre isn't exactly a popular ship, and although I know I should write for me, not for reviews, I hate that feeling of having no reviews at all, or one or two per chapter. What do you think?**_


	19. Never Going To Happen

_**Nick's POV (!)**_

It was just like my little sister to leave me to cover for her with Mum and Dad. Apparently she was going out to a birthday party, but in our parent's world, a birthday party went from two o'clock until six and you came with a brightly coloured present and your hair up in pigtails.

At least the thought of Jazz's hair tied back up in pigtails was definitely a funny thought. Now she had short hair and a tattoo. I still couldn't believe it about the tattoo. It was definitely pushing the boundaries a lot, and our parents still didn't know a thing about it.

Life changed fast. It didn't seem like it would be that long until Lottie started to do all of that as well. She certainly looked like she was going to follow Jazz's path. She was already dancing in HA Middle School's talent shows. Sometimes it did make me feel a bit like the odd one out.

At least in London we were all going to posh schools with fancy names. Sometimes I even missed being made fun off mercilessly by both of my sister whenever I referred to myself as a _'Pauline'._ It just didn't seem to connect in their head that I went to a school called St. Pauls. But now I was the one doing all that serious work, and they're having fun. I was the one working to try and get into university, and putting in effort. It seemed like they always had the easy way out. I had heard Jazz play and had seen Lottie dance and I knew that this was what they wanted, but I kind of missed Jazz sitting at the table freaking out about taking her Latin GCSE. I missed Lottie passing up and down the room reciting her french verbs, or complaining about how stupid German was.

Lottie hadn't shut up about where Jazz was all night. That probably wasn't a very good thing for Jazz, considering how much Lottie loves to make trouble. She looks so sweet and angelic, with her perfect little blonde hair curling around her face and her sweet little smile.

It only serves to hide the inner monster.

When the clock hit midnight I picked up the phone, doing what I had promised not to and letting my protective older brother mode taking over. I figured that it was time for Cinderella to come home from the ball.

Fate seemed to be against that idea, however.

The phone went to voicemail repeatedly. It was a nerve-racking feeling, before I remembered that she could just call Claremont Cars to get home, she had the number memorized and all.

And then it hit me that we were in a completely different country to the one that they operated in.

Not to mention that it would be super expensive.

But there was nothing I could do… So I turned on the X Factor. With one look at Simon Cowell on the judging panel and a distinct lack of Louis Walsh anywhere to be seen the television went straight back off. Though I think it's unlikely that even if it had been the UK version that I'd have still watched it.

It was about half an hour before I finally heard a car pull into a drive. It was half an hour I had spent thinking about my sister, and the car had to pull in, just before I was about to pull out my COD game and spend some time on the Xbox, hoping that some of my old friends would be on the XBox at 5 o'clock when they should be doing their homework. I suspected that a couple would. But Jazz was back now and that aching headache told me that I was time for me to go to bed.

It was half an hour of my life that I would never get back.

Or at least that I would never get back without making a deal with the devil… Did I know any Satanists?

Well, I could always call my cousin Jenny. (Let's just say that was a long story.)

I watched through the window as my sister stumbled out, accompanied by a guy that was very definitely _not_ the guy who had picked her up. It was a guy I had never seen before. I was about to go out there and find out who exactly that guy was, and how hard I had to hit him before Jazz stepped inside.

"I can't believe I just did that…" she muttered quietly, obviously not talking to me. I think she was talking to herself; yeah, our families cool like that.

As I happen to be proving right at this moment.

"What did you do…?"

"I gave him my number" Jazz murmured and I could literally feel my jaw drop at her comment. This was not my sister, this was an alien from the planet Jasnic who had replaced her and was pretending to be her.

With one glance at my gobsmacked expression Jazz bounded up the stairs, as fast as she possibly could.

My curiosity was killing me. I could have sworn that she was dating somebody.

Which meant…

Suddenly the anger inside of me began to boil. Nobody was allowed to dump my little sister. I knew that she was too kind and too nice to ever dump anybody (or at least that's what I thought I knew at the time) and nobody was allowed to hurt her.

I was going to kill the guy who had.

I reached for my phone in my pocket, searching for some way to fully understand what on Earth was going on. I didn't exact know what I was going to do until I got to my third contact on the list.

_Aspen…_

Suddenly I was grateful for the time I had spent worrying over Jazz, at least it took away from the time I would normally spend thinking about her. As much as my brain was telling them not to do it, my fingers seemed to reach out subconsciously, and to press the call button. And just like that, any thoughts of Jazz in my brain disappeared.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Aspen's POV<strong>_

To put it frankly, Ryan's birthday party rocked at the moment.

Sure, Maddie, Connor, and Jazz had disappeared and Nikki was refusing to dance with Derek until he talked to her, which he still wouldn't do. It didn't really help, though, that Nikki wasn't telling Derek that was what he had to do to get anything out of her. She was just kind of leaving him to do a lot of guesswork, and, well, leaving him to pray.

But all of this was compensated for by the sight of the birthday girl and her boyfriend, together for every song and sometimes just dancing on their own in the middle of the dance floor.

Well, that and the opportunity to get so completely wasted I forgot I still don't have a boyfriend.

With that, my thoughts drifted back to a dirty blonde, drop dead gorgeous, totally British guy in my mind. But I knew I was being ridiculous. There was no way that Nick would _ever _like me like that. I sat down with another beer in my hand and the option to get hammered and not remember any of this in the morning. My brain seemed to decide that was the smartest thing to do and the beer was almost at my lips when the phone buzzed, making me shriek out loud.

"What the hell is this?" I asked, after checking that the number wasn't saved in my contacts.

The moment I heard a Brit's voice drift down the line I knew that that was the wrong thing for me to say. "Um… well, it's Nick. If you want, I can call back later."

My heart skipped a beat for a second and then started pounding so hard, I could feel it on the inside of my ribcage.

"No! I was just wondering how you got my number."

"Oh, I got it off Jazz's phone."

"Oh, okay…"

There was a moment of silence on the line.

"So, how's the party." I could almost see Nick's adorable smirk through the phone line.

"Um… it's fine."

There was pure silence on the line for a moment. It was such a surreal feeling. I had no idea why he was on the phone and we were attempting to have a decent random chat. It didn't help that my heart was racing at a million miles an hour.

"So I wanted to ask you something." My mind was immediately drawn back to the last time he had said that, he had never been able to finish, thanks to the extreme cockblocker in his little sister.

If Jazz wasn't one of my closest friends then I would really hate her right now. But hating her because she had a little problem with me liking Nick would be like hating Jamie because me and Maddie didn't exactly click. It wasn't right.

"The same thing as last time?" Once again, silence reigned down the phone line. It was almost getting annoying.

"Um… well, yeah, I suppose that still applies. It's fairly important."

"And…"

"Aspen… will you go-" Then it cut off, not just the previous silence, the whole phone hung up. A second later though it was ringing again from Nick. It was so bloody annoying, my heart beat faster as he said it, thinking that just maybe he was going to ask me out. I was telling myself that he wasn't going to, but that didn't stop myself hoping.

It didn't stop myself from hoping that for once things would go my way. After all, I had spent most of my Freshman and Sophomore Year hung up over a teacher who wouldn't even acknowledge me by my fist name. I just wanted a normal guy to like me when I liked him.

"Sorry, I think we got cut off…"

"So what were you saying?" I took a deep breath.

"Aspen… I was just wondering… is that Connor guy Jazz's boyfriend." It was fairly obvious that it wasn't what he was going to say the first time. But it didn't matter; he didn't like me like that. I was just a stupid girl for thinking that in the first place. My heart flopped a little in my chest and as hard as I tried to fight it, disappointment surged through me.

I was just a stupid little kid in his mind.

"Yeah…"

"Then will you hold him down while I hit him?" Nick's voice grew angry pretty fast.

"What brought that on…?"

"Um… well, my sister coming home with a random guy in tears and apparently having given him her number. She wouldn't do anything like that while dating somebody."

Oh, well, Connor was in deep shit.

I wondered which guy would hurt him first.

It definitely wouldn't help the Derek and Nikki situation. It was kind of funny that Derek couldn't say one word to her. And he was bound to take Connor's side on the matter. I wondered, for a moment, if one break-up could cause a split up within the group. I sure hoped not.

"Give me a second… I'm coming over. She needs someone to talk to other than her older brother."

"No, it's far too late. She's sleeping." I raised my eyebrows slightly. He sounded like her dad, which was very concerning given my feelings about him.

"Okay, then… well, I'm going to be there first thing in the morning to take her to school."

"You know, everything always seems to be about my baby sister."

I laughed a little under my breath. Between her and Ryder, and then her play, and now her and Connor, he did kind of have a point. That's probably because she's the most messed up of all of us.

No, that cannot be right.

If you just take us girls, Nikki's mom is abandoning her and her boyfriend won't speak to her, Maddie just woke up from a coma, Ryan was obsessed over a guy that was totally in love with another girl for a fair amount of time… although she was currently slow dancing with that guy right now… aka her boyfriend. And me? I liked two guys, one who it was pretty much illegal for me to date, and the other wasn't interested.

I think overall we were just a messed up group, all as messed up as each other.

"Okay, well then, I've got to go, I think Lottie just woke up." Nick said as suddenly I didn't want him to hang up. We hadn't even had a real conversation.

"Oh, alright."

"And one more thing… would you like to go out with me?"

I was shell-shocked. I had no idea how to react, and seconds just went passed with me standing there like an utter moron.

"I knew it was a stupid idea. Why would a girl like you ever want to go out with someone like me?" Nick said, and I could hear my own insecurities reflected in his voice.

I couldn't breathe, let alone speak to let him know that it wasn't stupid in the slightest. By the time I managed to get any words out of my mouth, Nick was gone.

_**I really don't think I did it justice, but that was the Naspen moment everybody has been praying for. I really hate to make things all about my own OC, so I'm trying not to do that…**_

_**It's hard! But I'd like to think you couldn't pick out one main character from this story.**_

_**And I have a good plotline planned out for just about every OC I think. Anyway, tell me what you think.**_


	20. My Silent Boyfriend

_**Nikki's POV**_

I didn't have a lot to say about that week-end. It could be summarized in three words: It wasn't fun. Well, maybe it was fun for Aspen, who was unbelievably happy with the guy of her dreams by her side. It was funny to see them trembling, thinking they were in private when we all came 'round to Jazz's house. It was obvious we were all just hiding behind the staircase. Or at least, me and Ryan were, anyway. Jazz was… Jazz wasn't in the mood to do anything.

But it had been _so cute_, the way that Aspen smiled as she entered the kitchen.

"Hi…" she whispered, and in a second, Nick has turned his back to her.

"What do you want?"

"You know, you never let me answer the question." As Aspen said that, and Nick spun around to face her, it filled me with happiness to see the little spark of hope in his eyes. This is why a relationship is worth it, no matter how hard it is sometimes, because then, Aspen leaned in and kissed him. I wish I was still in that place with Derek.

Urgh… me and Derek. That was a pretty horrible situation at the moment. Derek wouldn't say a word to me. I was beginning to get scared that I was going to have to beat something out of him. He just sat there, like I didn't exist. I didn't know what I had done wrong, but he was looking at me like I was a criminal. I must have done _something _wrong, or he wouldn't be acting like this. A little part of me knows deep down inside that there is a reason. I thought he wanted me to go with my mom. I thought he was doing that stupid guy thing where he was acting cold and distant to make me break up with him, because he couldn't face it.

None of this made any sense to me at all. He'd just asked me to move in! Why would he have wanted to suddenly break up? It all seems so stupid. All I knew is that he wouldn't say a word to me. For most of that week-end I just wanted to join Jazz upstairs and cry with her. For a little bit of that week-end, I did. I knew how stupid I was to be crying because a boy ignored me. But it was Derek… I didn't quite know what I would do without him… if he decided to dump me. It would be like losing a best friend, or a beloved family member.

I wish I could do what Aspen or Ryan would do. I wish I could just get pissed at him, and hate him. If he breaks up with me all out of the blue maybe I would hate him, but right now I just couldn't hate him. He was Derek…

It's funny how when it was one of us crying that when our hearts got broken, like Ryan's completely awful faze when she was addicted to her boyfriend (don't ask… actually, do ask, it's quite a funny story, just don't ask _me)_, who was obviously no good for her, and she'd always defend him by saying. "He's Josh" and even Jazz was claiming "He's Connor, I can't get over him."

Jazz was another thing that contributed to both make me hate this week-end and make me hate relationships at the same time.

I walked in the room and Jazz was crying her heart out.

"How could he…? How could he kiss her?" Jazz's cry raised into a scream and her voice cracked. She had managed to be strong for a while, and then it had just flown out of the window. "I hate him! I hate that little bastard!" she screamed at no one in particular, as she began to rant about how much he sucked. It was almost a sick kind of funny seeing that after how much she used to praise him. Hell, he even had the lead in her play.

With all of the stuff that had happened, we had all forgotten to be nervous about the play as well. Arguably, it was the most important thing in our lives at the moment. It could be our big break, for me, or Connor, or Jazz. I could tell you one thing, though, if Connor became famous because of Jazz's play, then Jazz was absolutely going to murder him. Well, that was if us girls didn't get to him first. Most of us were already planning to get him back in some way, shape, or form. We were just waiting until after the play to do it, so he didn't have to go on stage with a bloody nose, because, trust me, when we were done with that dirty lying little cheating ****, he was going to have visible injuries. And yeah, I did just block out my dirty language… no I haven't been doing that before, it's just how I roll. I'm definitely cool like that.

So I didn't even realise that I was supposed to be freaking out about the play until it was too late to do anything else. I forgot to freak out about lines that I knew that I had learned… or to spend nights having terrible nightmares about how my costume came down.

So in that moment I was standing there, with ten minutes to go… and then I decided to have a panic attack. I was gasping for air, feeling slightly like I couldn't breathe, and I glanced over to Derek. That was not, a good idea, it really wasn't. He gave this sad little smile and then looked away from me. He still wouldn't talk.

In the last five minutes before I was due on, I ran over to him.

"Derek, wish me luck?"

_Silence_

"Please…"

_Silence_

"Derek, say something right now… or I'll… I'll"

_Silence_.

I couldn't take it anymore. I reached out and I slapped my boyfriend across the face. I didn't care how he felt, it wasn't fair. And then I turned around and walked onto the stage.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Derek's POV<strong>_

So basically, I stood there, staring at Nikki walking away.

"Shit," I said underneath my breath. (No, I'm not going to censor my language, I don't care what Nikki's doing). I couldn't believe she just walked away. There was a large throbbing pain in my left cheek as I heard Nikki doing the introduction. I guess I deserved it, I was being a complete ass. I still couldn't believe I wasn't allowed to talk to my girlfriend. I didn't even know why I was sticking to this bet. It wasn't as if my life was at stake or anything. I guess it was just my stupid pride, the fact that I could never let Connor and Jamie win.

I gave Connor a side-long glance and he shook his head. What did he know? But I guess he still had a successful relationship with Jazz… or at least, I think he had a relationship with Jazz. She hadn't said otherwise. But then again, she hadn't spoken to him all day, even in last minute rehearsals. That couldn't be good for their relationship. But then again I hadn't said anything to Nikki for a long time, far too long for that matter. Did that mean our relationship was going to have problems as well? I was counting down the days until I could speak to her again, and I swear once I did, I would stay with her, chatting for hours.

The first thing I was going to say to her, I had decided, was…

_I love you._

* * *

><p><em><strong>I'm sorry, it's so short. I'm so bad. I'm hoping to try and update this once a week from now on though, I might not make it though, so maybe once every two weeks.<strong>_

_**And one qu. Do you have a favourite non-canon couple? (I know a lot of people's fav canon is Naspen, which I love too. Their date should be coming up relatively soon). And what do you guys think of Caddie? (Connor/Maddie)**_

_**The Name Is A Lie, As Is The Cake**_

_**:)**_


	21. Oh Poor Little Me

_**Ryan's POV**_

Have I ever mentioned that I absolutely adore the roar of the stage? Well, I do. I think that might just be the reason that I'm at Hollywood Arts in the first place. I may not have had a lead role in the play, but as we came out to take our bows it didn't matter. Because I truly felt special in that moment.

Okay, moving on from all of that sappy crap. There was going to be another epic party tonight. And this time, I'd gotten the chance to throw it. It was cool, because it seemed like everything was centred on me. Well, this one was technically centred all on Jazz, but that didn't matter. Jazz was a wreck after what had happened with Connor the other day. And it really didn't help having to watch him kiss Nikki over and over again. Plus, she did actually spend about an hour begging me to un-invite Maddie. I think she may have forgotten that I was dating Jamie…

And today Jamie was going to see my apartment for the first time. He was super excited, you know, like Cat excited. I, on the other hand, was desperately trying to think of ways to keep him away. I hadn't exactly been completely honest with him.

I hadn't lied to him.

But let's just say that he was not the only one that has family issues.

As in I'd lived on my own for the last year and a half. But he doesn't know that. And I was completely over my step-father dumping me like I was pile of trash after my father died and I came to him and my mother for help. I'm Ryanna Chadwick, I wasn't going to burst out in tears. But I didn't feel the need to go and advertise it everywhere. That was just another thing that meant I didn't want to get off the stage.

But Jamie pulled my hand as we left the stage, all of us cheering.

"So finally time for me to see where you live?" He asked, brushing his hair out of his face.

"Um… Don't we have to…?" I racked my brain to try and think of something to stall but the amazing well of ideas that was Ryan Chadwick's brain was running a little dry.

"Oh come on, Jazz'll handle all the official crap. It's her play after all. I want to see your house." I plastered a smile onto my face as he said that. Maybe praying would help me… Dear God… um… wait, it's been sixteen years. If the Christian God exists, I'm going to hell. I may be ever so slightly screwed… oh, and to all you Christians out there, I'm so very, very sorry.

There, make of that what you will.

Jamie pulled me out of the Black Box so fast it almost seemed like it was on fire, and within what seemed like two seconds we were out in the car park.

"You can slow down, you know, it's not a race."

"I know." Jamie gave me a little smile.

"Then why are you dragging me along the car park so fast I fear you'll rub off the soles of my shoes?"

"Because I'm scared you'll make a break for it."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because you've got something that you've been hiding."

I stopped and stared at him there. I hated how good he was at reading me. I really hated it. But I shouldn't be nervous. If I couldn't trust Jamie, who could I trust?

Nobody. That was who.

But was that such a bad thing? I walked past Jamie into the car, and opened the passenger's door. I could have driven myself, but Jamie insisted on being the guy. I guess no matter who you date, there's always that stupid male ego.

Jamie followed me in quickly afterwards, and started up the car.

"You know that you can't hide forever. If there's something you're hiding, I think I should know. It's only your apartment that I'm seeing. What's wrong?"

My smile began to fall a little, and my poker-face began to crack.

Jamie took one look at my wobbling face and pulled the car over.

"Okay, spill. Now."

I don't quite know what it was, but I suddenly began to spill it all. It just all piled out of my mouth. I can't be bothered to put speak marks around everything, so I think I'm just going to tell it to you straight.

_I was a totally regular kid when I was younger. I had two parents, a loving mother and a father. The only thing I ever wanted was a kid brother or sister, but I knew that was never going to happen. I think I was a little bit of a sweet kid, with dark black hair and electrifying blue eyes. I never knew a hard day's work in my entire life._

_I kind of envy how I used to be, because it all broke down and collapsed._

_One day, that little girl walked into the room and saw her father in the middle of the room, beer lying all around him._

"_Daddy?" She was nine years old, far too old to be calling him Daddy, but right now she was scared._

"_Go away…" Her father, my father, was broken down. I didn't know it yet, but that was the day that my life sort of broke down. My mother had left that morning; my father was deep in debt. We had never lived in total luxury, but we were firmly middle class._

_That was over. Suddenly, we were living in poverty. I got a job at McDonalds when I was thirteen, although I said I was seventeen. The manager didn't care that much about my age, only that I would work for minimum wage._

_You would think that my life was pretty sucky just about then, right? That I was some clichéd character with a sob-story. Well, it's not really. I don't like to think of it like that. I don't like to live in the past and forget about the future; to me it just seems completely wrong. After all, my life's great right now, so I must have done something right._

_And then my Dad died. My Dad was amazing. He was the only thing that mattered in my life. He was funny, and charming, and uplifting. It was just me and him against the world, and somehow, we got by on what little we had. And we were happy, despite it all._

_But still, he died. I'm over it._

_I so am._

_Don't you dare imply that I'm not._

_Or I'll stop telling the story._

_Okay, now that that's over._

_So I found my Mom after that. She was living in New York. I got there, and my step-father took one look at me, the way I was. I was only thirteen, but I already had streaks in my hair. He didn't believe for one moment that I was Mom's daughter. Mom denied I was her daughter to him. She was ashamed of me, she really was. She was ashamed that she had a daughter, who was no longer perfectly middle class, and lived in a leather jacket and had dyed her hair. So I turned around and came back._

_I lived with a friend and his Mom for a couple years. And now I live alone._

_So maybe I was being stupid for not telling the story, and maybe I am just being stupid for telling it. I know it's a big sob story, but I'm not one to be pitied. I didn't think it mattered. But I was still scared that Jamie would judge me because of it all. It's not a long story, in fact in almost pain-staking short, but it's my life, and I try and skip over it as much as I possibly can._

I was almost trembling as I finished my oh-so-sad tale of wow.

I was only ever like this around Jamie. I would blush around him, become nervous around him. He was my kryptonite. He was the only thing that made me weak. But I realised as he started up the car, maybe he was the only thing that made me human.

It was silence for the rest of the car journey, both of us trying to process the situation. I was trying to think about what he thought about what I had just told him, and he was trying to think about what I just told him.

As we excited the car, Jamie turned to look at me.

"You know, whatever you tell me, I'm not going anywhere, right?" He whispered and suddenly we were kissing. We were kissing, and I really felt happy.

Wow, what is it with me and being totally melodramatic today?

As we broke off, I slipped my hand into his and we headed to my apartment.

Inside, there was a sixteen year old guy, his fluffy brown hair all over the place, and his smile literally sparkling. His green eyes still made me smile as well. And his voice… his voice still carried a million memories.

"Ryan."

_**Okay, I think Ryan pretty much deserved that chapter all to herself. And I think, apart from the amount of angst, I'm pretty proud of that. Of course, I'm going to re-read it and hate it. But yeah… and Tabyylynn, please review and tell me what you thought. I made up some details, but I'm calling it poetic license. Until next time:**_

_**The Name Is A Lie, As Is The Cake**_

_**: )**_


	22. Oh Shit

**Connor's POV**

You know, with two parties in one week, you would think that this would have been a very enjoyable time. And then you have to include the fact that I was staring in a play, with agents in the audience, and kissing a very pretty girl about every five minutes.

Yeah… on paper, my life = perfect. In reality… well, this party is a hell of a lot different than how it was the last time. Last time, the party started round at my house, and I had a beautiful, amazing girlfriend. Now? Not so much. And the play… well it was Jazz's play, which might mean it's my ex-girlfriend's play, I'm not quite sure yet. It was just about as awkward as it could possibly be between me and her during rehearsals. And that very pretty girl I was kissing… that was Nikki, who is one of my best friends, and even staging kissing is weird. There is nothing romantic going on there. It only made things more awkward in front of Jazz and Maddie as well. And even Jamie's slightly pissed with me about what happened. But I did kiss his sister, and I have no idea what the hell to do about Maddie.

She's sweet, and funny, and clever. I never knew Maddie all that well, and maybe... just maybe… I admired her a little from afar. But that was in the past, and I never thought about her like that, when I was with Jazz. And all I really want is to be back with Jazz, and for this whole thing to have never happened. I walked over to the guys, a half-finished beer in my hand, and my eyes constantly flicking towards the door of Ryan's apartment, hoping that a certain British person would appear through the door.

And no, it wasn't Nick I was thinking of. Seeing Nick right now would probably leave me with a black eye and a fat lip.

"So, is your night going well?" Derek asked as I approached, the tone implying that _his _night wasn't going too well.

"What do you think? I kissed another girl, my girlfriend caught me, and my girlfriend dumped me. Jazz won't even talk to me."

Derek looked at me in shock for a moment. "You cheated on Jazz?" he asked incredulously.

"With Maddie…" Jamie's depressed voice joined the conversation.

"What, I don't know whether I should knock you out or comfort you that it'll all be okay."

Derek's voice didn't have a lot of effort in it, because honestly I think he had his own problems to deal with.

"How did you not know this?" I asked.

"Lost contact with Nikki. _I can't talk to her." _Despite our current moods, honestly, Jamie and I couldn't help but laugh. Derek was taking the bet so far that it was funny. It was odd for someone who was so crazy about his girlfriend to go through something like this. But he knew that we would both tease him mercilessly if he failed. It was only a week, after all, how much exactly could that do? It was unlikely to kill anybody.

"Don't laugh. Think of how much you wish that Jazz would talk to you right now." My laughter died and I took another sip of my beer (man, I was so thankful that we had Nick, or we'd never manage to get a drop of alcohol).

"So why are you depressed then, Jamie? You've got a healthy relationship with your girlfriend, and nothing is ruining your life at the moment."

"You want to bet?" Jamie looked at the two of us, and then raised his finger, pointing to another guy currently dancing with Ryan. We all winced slightly, none of us was a stranger to jealousy. "That over there is Jessie Brumer, who apparently has been Ryan's best friend since Kindergarten, and who, for a short time a couple grades back, Ryan was dating. Not to mention, apparently he's over at Ryan's house at least half of every week-end, and for a short amount of time she actually lived with him."

Why was it always the guy that had to deal with the relationship problems? Why couldn't it be the girls that had to pick up the pieces? I knew that if it was a pretty girl that Jamie was dancing with, then Ryan would throw a fit. But because Ryan was dancing, Jamie would be in big trouble if he got angry. I could almost hear Jamie clicking his knuckles, as we all fell silent, wondering how on Earth we were going to get out of this mess.

"Oh, look at Nikki. She's dancing with someone else…" Derek sighed "Can I…?"

"Ready to admit that you are whipped?" Jamie asked, a smirk slowly re-appearing on his face. It says a lot that no matter how unhappy we are, the sight of another of us miserable will cheer us up. But then again, as my grandmother would have said, once upon a time, 'Boys will be boys'.

"Oh… never mind. Just don't expect me to help you with Jazz."

"No worries, I'm just thankful nobody's hit me yet!"

"Oh, haven't you figured it out, we're waiting for Nick to get round to you. Might as well let the older brother do it." Derek disappeared back in the crowd, probably to get another drink, and suddenly, I saw the girl I had been waiting for appear through the doorway.

"Got to go…" I headed off, praying that Jazz would actually talk to me instead of doing something that was far more likely, like spitting in my face. I got halfway across the room before Jazz disappeared from my sight.

Instead, I felt a tap on my back.

"Connor Davis? Haven't seen you in… um… weeks, months, years?" My eyes widened as I took in the man before me.

"Leonardo Alexander Daniels…" Leo was my neighbour, both of us growing up in the very same shit hole. We even went to the same middle school, and maybe we were even friends for a long time. He went to Northridge, though, so that kind of changed.

"Dude, what's with the full name? What are you doing here anyway?" Leo asked, raising one eyebrow. I knew why he was here, though, if he hadn't changed since high-school.

"I was in the play that this party is to celebrate," I smirked. "You know, as the lead male?"

Leo threw back his head and laughed, running his hand through his brown hair that used to always make the girls fall for him.

"Should have known. But in my defence, I didn't actually see the play." It was nice, being just able to slip back into conversation with Leo, after not seeing each other for a while. But then again, we had lived on the same road since we were little kids; I had known him since he was like… seven. We had both had hardships. It wasn't a crime to lean on each other's shoulder before we could deal with the problems by ourselves. However, when that wasn't necessary any more, there wasn't that much of a point. And I kind of got sick of Leo, the way he always had to play the part of the 'bad boy', or the 'player' depending on which day of the week it was.

"So what's she look like?"

Leo pulled a fake look of astonishment onto his face, and then smiled. "Get this, I'm walking home, and I see this chick, all alone, short skirt." I rolled my eyebrows at the fact that was what Leo got from the encounter. "I wasn't just going to leave her there, was I? I'm not an idiot, a girl like that wouldn't last around here for more than a minute. Even Jade doesn't like to go out around the area without Beck, and they know her. So I go up to her, and for some reason my cool slipped…"

"God forbid"

"Shut up. So my cool slipped, and I start yelling at this girl. And then she looks at me all offended. I call her an idiot."

"Smooth..."

"Okay, one more time and I'm not going to finish the story."

"Very sorry, please continue, oh Master."

Leo glared at me and I gave a little bow. "Anyway, she begins to cry, and I'm just like 'Shit…'" I had to bite back a sarcastic comment as Leo gave me a warning look, predicting what I was just about to say. "So anyway, I'm like 'Shit… no, I didn't mean it. Don't cry'. And then she tells me she's just come out of a party that she can't go back into… so what do I do? I become the perfect gentleman." I couldn't help it. I let out a snort at that point. Leo? A gentleman? "One more time and I'll… So I took her home, I was even expecting anything. And I get her number… so long story short, here I am with a hot chick whose life I may have saved… possibly."

I raised my eyebrows once more.

"First of all, after weeks, that is one of the first things you tell me about, the girl. And second, you couldn't have just said that in the first place."

"Well, yeah…"

"So what is this girl actually like, is she at Hollywood Arts?"

Leo nodded. "Yeah, dark hair with streaks, bright green eyes, a little on the short side…"

Warning bells were going off in my head.

"And get this, she's British. I can't get enough of her accent."

Oh no, the feeling of jealously was building up inside of me. Leo… my neighbour Leo that liked to pick up girls and then dump them? Leo with…

"Oh, and she wrote the play. There she is…"

I turned my head towards where he was pointing, and my jaw dropped.

"That is Jazz." Leo told me, looking ever so pleased with himself.

**_Not a lot happened in that last bit, did it? It was basically a bit of a recap of Chapter 18, wasn't it? Oops, never mind, I'm not re-writing it now. Anyways… review! And it looks like three relationships are having problems. Which one would you be the most pissed at me for if I broke them up permanently (or for a while) out of Cazz, Nerek, and Jyan?(Jyan)_**

**_And please, check out my forum (and GG's and Livvy's a regular on it too), the Topaz Awards, as although the award season is over, we have a fairy tale challenge going on._**

**_The Name Is A Lie, As Is The Cake_**

**_:)_**


	23. Devil In A Bottle

_**Maddie's POV**_

So, there I was, minding my own business, crying inwardly while watching Connor, you know, just a perfectly average day in my shit-filled life.

They split up, I saw them, Jazz won't even talk to the guy. Jazz has a _date._

But Connor still won't look at me the way he looks at her. I guess I'm just not the distressed damsel that Jazz has always had this _amazing _talent for being. She can't even be around Connor's house without wandering off, and having to get herself saved by somebody. That was how she got Connor, that's how she got the next guy, and it kills me.

There's always a girl like that, the one that gets everything you ever wanted, the boys, the clothes, the grades, the parts, the popularity, but the thing is, before, it was never Jazz who was like that for me. Us two used to be close… not as close as me and Cat, or me and Aphrodite, or me and _Trina_, but close never-the-less, and she _was _nice. (In case you missed that, the emphasis there was on the 'was').

After a couple minutes, I stopped wandering around the room, and started to survey it instead. It was actually more interesting than things I had seen in a while. The boys were depressed, watching the girls dancing with other people. The only person who looked actually happy was Aspen, dancing with Nick's hands around her waist, and looking as if they were the only two people in the entire world. I envied them. I envied them so very much, for what they had. Aspen had liked a guy, and the unthinkable had happened. That guy had… (wait for it) *GASP* liked her too.

I think I might have been there sulking for almost half an hour, just in the corner, sipping a soda… (go ahead, call me a wimp, honestly, I dare you), before I got up, and decided to do the last thing that I would do normally.

"Hey…" Nikki seemed just as confused as I was.

"Don't look at me like that. You're not having a good time... I'm not having a good time. Obvious solution here!"

Nikki looked like she was about to protest, as spiteful as ever, but she just kind of gave up, her shoulders ending up heaved forwards, and walked away from me. Now, I may not be the most popular person in the world, but I must admit, people just turning away from me and walking off is not the most common occurrence.

I grabbed her by her shoulder, and Nikki shook me off, quickly.

"Nikki!"

"What?" She snapped, turning her face back so it was close to mine. "As I think you may have noticed, I am not in a good mood. Now, you don't like me, and honestly, I'm not a massive fan of you, so what do you want? Unless it's just to dig up some dirt on Jazz."

"No!" I called, although that would probably be great, but it was probably clever if I searched for a reason other than, I'm bored. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"Yes, I am!"

"Uh huh"

"Okay… maybe it's killing me that the guy I love won't say a word to me… and maybe I'm sick of dancing with guys who flirt, and probably aren't even hearing a word I'm saying, but instead wondering what 'd look like naked." Nikki glanced back up at me from her downward gaze, inspecting my face. She probably expected it to be pink from the amazing amount of blushing she expected from me. I may have been friends with Cat and the like, but that didn't mean I was actually like that.

"Yeah, well, at least you know that the guy you love actually likes you… And you're not the bitch who stole someone's boyfriend."

Nikki gave me daggers as I said it, and instantly I wanted to stuff those words back into my mouth, and to go die in a hole.

"It was your choice to kiss him. It's nobody's fault but your own."

"Think about it… if one day you were just sitting there, crushing on Derek, and you started to think that just _maybe _he liked you too, and the next day, somebody else was dating him… one of your best friends who had known exactly how you felt about him, how would you feel? Would your feelings for Derek go away?"

"Ye… No."

"I didn't think so, because feelings just don't go away quite that easily, no matter how much simpler life would be if they did."

And with that, the conversation fell into a lull, me looking at her, and her looking back at me, leaving me almost as bored as I was at the beginning of the party.

"!"A voice came from behind. The kind of voice that sounds unbelievably familiar, but different all the same. It was a shock to the system that with a turn of my head, Ryan appeared. But Ryan wasn't quite Ryan…

"What's with all the sadddddddd faces? Are you not enjoying the party? You neeeeeeeeeeeeeed to dance! WOOOOOOO!" Ryan screamed, grabbing both of our hands, and pulling us out onto the dance floor.

"Ry, are you… drunk?" Nikki asked, genuine concern in her voice.

"Yeppppp! I'm having so much fun! In fact, you're drunk!" She screamed, prompting looks of confusion from the two of us. "IIIIIIII, however, need a drink!" Ryan turned around, grabbing two drinks. Instantly, Nikki reached her hand out and pulled the drinks from her, giving one to me, and drowning her own.

I followed her example, figuring that if it was in my stomach, Ryan couldn't drink it.

And that's just about where my memory ends.

The next morning, my head hurt the worst that it had ever hurt in my life. And 12 hours of my life were completely missing.

I couldn't remember a thing since drowning my drink last night, and it wasn't the most comfortable situation that I had ever woken up in. I gazed around, not recognising anything but bushes all around me. And I could hear cars, and smell petrol, and hear… Oh My God it hurt my head so much, I could hear police sirens as load as if they were right next to me. With pain and effort, I sat up, and glanced around… I was lying right next to my car, the passenger's door still open.

But across the road, was one of the biggest shocks I had ever seen. The police cars had been right next to me in fact. And there was a girl, lying in a pink dress, her hair done up so nicely, in the middle of the road, covered in blood.

_**Nikki's POV**_

I left the room that morning, slightly scared at the producer's harsh and potential unforgiving faces. If I had screwed up I could ruin my career before it had even started.

This was the audition that could change it all. It wasn't every day you get a call saying that you just might be absolutely perfect for a part in a movie. And I think I pulled the audition off fairly well, but the problem is, you can never be sure. The producers could give you all the smile and 'Well Dones' in the world, and I still might end up disappointed.

And I couldn't really end up like that, because I needed it. I needed it to make my life better. Otherwise, all it had done was rob me of the experience at a party, that could have possibly made me completely forget.

I had gotten the call the night before, just something quick about having seen my performance in the play, and would I like to audition for this movie, apparently having been called 'The choice'. It was a once in a life time opportunity, so it hadn't been a tough decision for me to say goodbye to everybody and to get some sleep so I didn't mess it all up.

But that afternoon, I realized, that maybe, not messing up, just meant that I was messing everything up even more than I would have otherwise.

It was typical, as I came in, me and my Mom gave each other icy looks. And then she picked up her phone.

I was paying all that much attention to what she said.

But then I got those fatal words. I caught the words 'The Choice', and suddenly, all of my attention was focused almost solely on her.

"Mom…" I asked the moment she was off the phone.

"Yes…" It was an interesting tone in her voice, one that I wasn't used to hearing from her. She was happy that I was talking to her, after my announcement that I wouldn't be moving with her when she upped at left, but she felt that motherly urge to scold me on my tone.

"What's 'The Choice'?"

"My movie honey… I told you this…"

"The one being filmed in Alaska..?"

"Yes honey…"

Maybe there had been something that the producers had forgotten to mention.

_**Okay… so I'm sorry. Four months is bad, even for me… and this isn't a particularly brilliant chapter to make up for it. But you do get a sneak peek for next chapter… and a plot for each one of the major female characters has been put in action now (except for Jazz), and don't worry, I haven't forgotten the guys.**_

_**So without adue, sneak peek here. (Yes, it's incredibly short… and not in the person it will be in next time)**_

* * *

><p>"<em>I screwed up!"<em>

_The four girls turned to look at each other carefully, examining each-others faces._

_Nikki, Aspen, Ryan and Maddie eyes rotated around the group, each wondering if their thing was the worst of all._

* * *

><p><em><strong>Forever Failing Better<strong>_

_**PerfectingImperfections**_


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